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AUTHOR: 


MURRAY,  JOHN 


TITLE: 


ORIGINAL  VIEWS  OF 
PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE 


PLACE: 


DUBLIN 

DA  TE : 

1851 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

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Original  views  of  passages  ^iiil'toe'lif^^id 
writings  of  the  poet-philosopher  of  Venusia;  wittt 
which  is  combined  an  illustration  of  the  suitabil 
ity  of  the  ancient  epic  and  lyric  styles  to  modem 
subjects  of  national  and  genera],  interest,  by 
John  lAirray. . .   Dublin,  Hodges,  1851. 
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SCIENCE. 

A  TREATISE  ON  CONIC  SECTIONS.    By  the  Rev. 

G.  SALnroN,  A.  M.,  F.T.  C.  D.     Second  Edition,  enlarged.  12«. 

A  TREATISE  ON  HEAT.     Parti.    The  Thermometer; 

Dilatation  ;  Change  of  State  ;  Laws  of  Vapours.  By  the  Rev.  R.  V.  Dixon, 
A.  INI.,  F.  T.  C.  D.,  Erasmus  Smith's  Professor  of  Natural  and  Experimental 
PliiIosoi)hy.     1  vol.,  8vo.  cloth,  with  Plates,  I'i*.  6d. 

ELEMENTS  OF  OPTICS.  By  the  Rev.  H.  Lloyd,  D.D., 

F.  T.  C.  D.     1  vol.  8vo.  6s.  6d. 

EUCLID  ;  the  first  Six  Books,  with  Notes.     By  the  Rev. 

Tho:mas  Eluington,  D.  D.,  late  Lord  Bishop  of  Ferns.  Twelfth  Edition, 
with  Corrections.     8vo.  boards,  7*. 

SELECTIONS  FROM  HELS HAM'S  LECTURES  ON 

HYDROSTATICS  AND  PNEUMATICS.     8vo.  sewed,  Bs. 

BRINKLEY'S    ELEMENTS    OF    PLANE    ASTRO- 
NOMY.    Sixth  Edition,  with  Notes.  8vo.  cloth,  12*. 

INTRODUCTORY  TREATISE  TO  PHYSICAL  AS- 

TKONOMY.     By  the  T^ev.  T.  Luby,  D.  D.     8vo.  Iwards,  12*. 

ELEMENTARY    TREATISE    OF    MECHANICAL 

PHILOSOPHY.  By  the  Rev.B.  Lr^vn,  D.  D.  Second  Edition.  8vo.  cloth, 
12*. 

OPTICS. — Twelve  Lectures  on  the  Wave-Theory  of  Lio-ht. 

By  the  Rev.  H.  Lloyd,  F.  T.  C.  D.     8vo.  cloth,  7*.  .     *^ 

COMPENDIUM  OF  ALGEBRA.     8vo.  boards,  5^. 

TRIGONOMETRY.— Compendium  of  Analytical  Trigo- 
nometry.    By  the  Rev.  T.  Luby,  D.  D.     8vo.  sewed,  7s,  6d. 

TRIGONOMETRY.— Elementary  Treatise  on  Plane  and 

Spherical  Trigonometry.     By  the  Rev.  T.  Luby,  D.  D.     8vo.  sewed,  10». 

TRIGONOMETRY.— Tlie  Elements  of  Plane  and  Sphe- 

ncal  Tngonometrj'.     By  Robert  Simson,  ]M.  D.     8vo.  sewed,  35.  6d. 

LATIN. 

TACITI  OPERA.     Edidit  Jos.  Stock.     4  vols.  12mo. 

boards,  16s. 

VIRGIL'S    GEORGICS,  with  a  literal  Translation  and 

English  Notes.     By  John  Walker,  A.  B.     8vo.  boards,  6s. 

LIVII  HISTORIARUM  LIBRI  QUINQUE  PRIORES, 

e  Recens.  Johannis  Walker,  A.  M.     In  usum  Scholarum.     8vo.  bds.  8*. 

LONDON  :   WHITTAKER  AND  CO.,    AVE   MARIA  LANE. 


ORIGINAL    VIEAVS 


OF 


PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS 


OF  THE 


POET-PIIILOSOPHER  OF  VENUSIA : 


WITH  WHICH  IS  COMBINED 


AN  ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  SUITABILITY  OF  THE  ANCIENT  EPIC  AND  LYRIC 
STYLES  TO  MODERN  SUBJECTS  OF  NATIONAL  AND  GENERAL  INTEREST. 


BY 


JOHN  MURRAY,  M.  A., 

ROYAL  GOLD  MEDALLIST  IN  "  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS,"  BY  AWARD  OF  IIIS  MA.TESTY  TIIE  KINC,  OF 

I'RI'SSIA  ;    FIRST  ICNIOR  MODERATOR  IN  ETHICS  AND  LOGICS  ;  EX-SCIIOLAlt  AND 

LAY  RESn)ENT  MASTER  OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  DUBLIN. 


"  LegitimjB  inquisitioiiis  vera  norma  est,  ut  nihil  veniat  in  practicam,  cnjus  non  fit  etiam 
doctrina  aliqua  ct  theoria."— Bacon,  De  Aug.  Scien. 


DUBLIN: 

HODGES  AND  SMITH,  GRAFTON-S TREET, 

BOOKSELLEKS  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY. 
MDCCCH. 


\\ 


PREFACE. 


DUBLIN: 

IPrinicU  at  t^e  ffinibcrsitB  ^rcss, 

nV   M.   11,   GILL. 


w 


Is. 


^ 


V' 
to 


3 

en 


It  is  related,  I  think,  by  Baron  Holberg,  in  his  Outlines  of 
Universal  History,  that  the  Spanish  author  Sepulveda  once 
published  an  antiquarian  Work,  apparently  for  the  sake  of  in- 
troducing a  single  original  notion  worthy  of  record,  namely, 
that  of  deriving  the  term  ^ra  from  the  initial  letters  of  the 
words  composing  the  sentence  ^  Annus  Erat  Regnantis  Au- 
gustV  And  although  the  derivation  is  about  as  well  founded 
as  would  be  that  of  the  English  term  News  from  the  initials 
of  the  names  of  the  four  cardinal  points,  yet  Sepulveda,  on 
the  whole,  *  stood  confest'  an  expert  literary  nomenclator,  and 
very  respectable  *  editor' — of  results  ascertained  by  others; 
his  faults  being  confined  to  his  originalities,  and  these  latter 
being  few. 

Now,  although  I  feel  a  strong,  but,  I  trust,  moderate  hope 
that  Sepulveda's  favourite  '  idea'  may  not  be  deemed  a  fair 
exponent  of  those  which  I  am  about  to  submit  to  the  ordeal 
of  the  reader's  criticism,  yet  I  would,  were  it  practicable, 
most  gladly  avail  myself  of  the  protective  advantages  which 
every  modern  '  editor'  of  the  Works  of  any  notable  ancient 
author  may  derive  from  blending  his  own  remarks,  however 
elementary,  with  those  more  recondite  dicta  that  are  already 
stamped  by  the  impress  of  influential  names.  The  conclu- 
sions, however,  at  which  I  have  arrived,  are  so  frequently 


178447 


VI 


PREFACE. 


\ 


adverse  to  generally  received  notions,  that,  taken  apart  from 
the  arguments  on  which  they  rest,  they  could  hope  for  little 
favour  from  most  readers ;  while  the  principal  of  these  argu- 
ments could  not  possibly  be  embodied  in  a  compendium  of 
general  annotations. 

While,  therefore,  I  am  far  from  affecting  to  depreciate  that 
species  of '  authorship,'  so  valuable  to  rudimentary  education, 
whose  end  is  instructive  compilation,  and  whose  operation 
is  legitimately  a  kind  of  sartorial  process  exercised  upon  fur- 
nished materials,  I  am  compelled,  by  the  necessities  of  the 
case,  to  present  my  humble  contribution  to  the  permanent 
Exhibition  of  the  Industry  of  all  Authors,  the  recognised 
*  Commissioners'  of  which  are  the  successors  of  the  Sosii,  in 
a  perfectly  independent  form,  and  one  which,  I  fear,  is  ill 
adapted  to  the  great  majority  of  junior  students. 

In  another  respect  also  I  feel  a  disadvantage,  in  being 
unable  to  banish  the  impression  that  '  Dedication'  suggests 
the  notion  of  patronage  courted,  more  directly  than  that  of 
compliment  intended.  I  have  therefore  denied  my  book  this 
delicate  honour.  Besides,  to  resolve  against  *  dedicating' 
altogether  appeared  the  only  feasible  solution  of  some  con- 
flicting difficulties,  which  I  felt  to  belong  to  my  own  parti- 
cular case. 

I  trust,  however,  that  these  considerations,  physical  and 
moral,  may  assist  in  conciliating  indulgence ;  and  that  I  may, 
without  presumption,  even  read  a  favourable  omen  in  the 
date  which  happens  to  be  proper  to  this  publication, — a  date 
which,  the  classical  reader  needs  not  to  be  told,  was  regarded 
as  auspicious  in  the  good  old  Roman  commemorations. 


JOHN  MURRAY. 


Chambers,  2  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
2\st  April,  1851. 


VI 


PREFACE. 


\ 


adverse  to  generally  received  notions,  that,  taken  apart  from 
the  arguments  on  which  they  rest,  they  could  hope  for  little 
favour  from  most  readers ;  while  the  principal  of  these  argu- 
ments could  not  possibly  be  embodied  in  a  compendium  of 
general  annotations. 

While,  therefore,  I  am  far  from  affecting  to  depreciate  that 
species  of '  authorship,'  so  valuable  to  rudimentary  education, 
whose  end  is  instructive  compilation,  and  whose  operation 
is  legitimately  a  kind  of  sartorial  process  exercised  upon  fur- 
nished materials,  I  am  compelled,  by  the  necessities  of  the 
case,  to  present  my  humble  contribution  to  the  permanent 
Exhibition  of  the  Industry  of  all  Authors,  the  recognised 
*  Commissioners'  of  which  are  the  successors  of  the  Sodi,  in 
a  perfectly  independent  form,  and  one  which,  I  fear,  is  ill 
adapted  to  the  great  majority  of  junior  students. 

In  another  respect  also  I  feel  a  disadvantage,  in  being 
unable  to  banish  the  impression  that  '  Dedication'  suggests 
the  notion  of  patronage  courted,  more  directly  than  that  of 
compliment  intended.  I  have  therefore  denied  my  book  this 
delicate  honour.  Besides,  to  resolve  against  *  dedicating' 
altogether  appeared  the  only  feasible  solution  of  some  con- 
flicting difficulties,  which  I  felt  to  belong  to  my  own  parti- 
cular case. 

I  trust,  however,  that  these  considerations,  physical  and 
moral,  may  assist  in  conciliating  indulgence ;  and  that  I  may, 
without  presumption,  even  read  a  favourable  omen  in  the 
date  which  happens  to  be  proper  to  this  publication, — a  date 
which,  the  classical  reader  needs  not  to  be  told,  was  regarded 
as  auspicious  in  the  good  old  Roman  commemorations. 


JOHN  MURRAY. 


Chambers,  2  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
2\st  April,  1851. 


COiNTENTS. 


I 


SECTION  I. 
Introductory  Observations,      .     . 


Page. 
1 


SECTION  II. 
Biographical  Memoir  of  the  Bard  of  Venusia,  ...       17 

SECTION  III. 

Detached  Passages  of  the  Satires,  Lyrics,  and  Epis- 
tles of  Horace  examined  :  with  preliminary  and 
general  remarks  on  the  context, 88 

SECTION  IV. 

Trifling  Propositions  attributed  to  Roman  Satirists 
examined, 217 

SECTION  V. 

Illustration  of  the  suitability  of  the  ancient  Epic 
AND  Lyric  styles  to  modern  subjects  of  national 
AND  general  interest, 227 


1,1 


/ 


\f 


» 


ORIGINAL  VIEWS, 

&C.  (fee. 


if! 


ORIGINAL  VIEWS, 


&C.   &C. 


SECTION  I. 

INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 

The  products  of  ancient  classical  genius,  considered 
relatively  to  their  matter,  and  independently  of  titles, 
authors,  and  times,  may  be  conceived  to  be  distri- 
buted over  three  intermixed  classes.  Under  one  class 
may  be  included  those  whose  modes  of  thought  and 
forms  of  expression  are  based  on  associations  which 
have  not  only  ceased  to  exist  among  men,  but  which 
it  is  now  impossible  for  the  mind  adequately  to  re- 
call. Another  may  recognise  the  offspring  of  com- 
binations which,  although  obliterated  by  time,  are  yet 
fairly  restorable  by  the  imagination.  A  third,  and  the 
most  important,  will  embrace  such  as  respect  those  de- 
velopments of  mental  and  physical  agencies  whose  uni- 
form processes  constitute  the  course  of  nature  itself. 
That  casual  associations  should  be  familiar  at  one 
time  or  place,  which  in  a  different  locality  or  age  are 
impracticable,  or  inconceivable,  will  not  appear  as- 
tonishing to  any  who  reflect  how  much  the  sugges- 


2  INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 

tions  of  human  invention,  and  even  the  powers  of 
fancy,  are  influenced  by  local  varieties  of  external 
nature.  On  the  other  hand,  the  constitution  of  human 
society  and  the  natural  laws  of  improvement  require 
that  the  main  amount  of  the  thoughts  and  practices  of 
men  should  originate  in  constant  sources,  should  be 
familiar  to  the  inteUigence  of  communities  in  general, 
and  should  be  transmissible  in  their  virtual  history 
throucfh  successive  a^^jes.  Hence  those  recesses  in 
the  extant  stores  of  ancient  literature,  which  time  or 
change  has  locked  against  us,  occupy  but  a  trifling 
portion  of  the  vast  included  space  :  and  from  almost 
every  department  of  these  inexhaustible  resources 
the  visitant '  bringeth  forth  things  new  and  old/ 

'Tis  true  the  ^schylean  and  Pindaric  strains  awake 
but  faint  echoesin  the  modern  mind;  the  choral  chant 
of  Sophocles,  and  even  the  less  aspiring  lay  of  Euri- 
pides, is  no  longer  comprehensible  in  its  primary  in- 
tent and  effect;  the  flash  of  Aristophanic  wit  is  widely 
dissipated  or  wholly  intercepted  by  the  hazy  atmos- 
phere which  it  now  traverses;  the  written  or  recited 
period  no  more  resembles  the  speaking  inspiration 
of  Demosthenes,  than  the  music-scroll  represents  the 
performance  of  the  piece;  while  the  didactic  truths 
of  Aristotle  ever  and  anon  elude  our  apprehension, 
because  of  the  apparently  irremediable  deficiency  of 
our  acquaintance  with  ancient  scientific  technicali- 
ties. Still  these  disappointments  are  happily  the  ex- 
ceptions, not  the  rule,  belonging  to  our  case.  And 
from  the  soul-stirring  heroics  of  Homer  (the  great 


I 


i 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS.  3 

• 

body  of  whose  conceptions  respecting  gods,  heroes, 
armies,  battles,  travel,  and  the  spiritual  world,  we 
are  perhaps  as  competent  to  picture  before  the  mind's 
eye  as  was  the  original  auditory  of  the  minstrel  sage) 
to  the  quaint  sententiousness  of  Tacitus,  it  is  gene- 
rally the  privilege  of  the  modern  scholar  to  commune 
with  the  worthies  of  olden  time,  with  a  freedom  which 
his  own  will  almost  alone  restricts, — to  test  the  phi- 
losopher's theory,  to  scan  the  historian's  facts,  to  ap- 
plaud the  statesman's  eloquence,  to  ponder  the  mo- 
ralist's precept,  and  to  attune  the  poet's  song. 

Among  the  authors  whose  feelings  and  sentiments 
have  found  a  constant  and  cordial  response  in  the 
approval  of  each  succeeding  age,  the  Poet-philoso- 
pherof  Venusia  holds  a  confessedly  pre-eminent  rank. 
Exuberant  in  graceful  poetic  imagery  and  terse  phi- 
losophic sentiment,  which  are  adapted  with  a  rare 
knowledge  of  human  nature  to  illustrate  every  pos- 
sible grade,  condition,  and  circumstance  of  ordinary 
life,  his  Works  may  in  this  respect  fiiirly  assert  rivalry 
with  those  of  our  own  immortal  bard  of  Avon :  and 
a  Latin  linguist  unfiimiliar  with  Horace  stands  in  the 
same  predicament  as  would  an  English  literate  un- 
versed in  Shakespeare. 

The  universal  applicability,  however,  which  renders 
quotation  from  an  ancient  author  familiar  as  house- 
hold words,  is  not  unattended  by  countervaihng  dis- 
advantages. Mistaken  notions,  whether  of  direct  or 
collateral  import,  when  once  received,  often  become 
inveterate  by  mere  transmissive  adoption :  an  inter- 

a2 


4  INTUODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 

pretation  or  statement  which  was  originally  a  casual 
blunder  or  idle  fiction  maybe  eventually  confirmed  by 
usage  as  an  accredited  'acceptation' :  and  thus  by  sole 
force  of  repetition  the  circulation  of  error  is  assimi- 
lated to  the  currency  of  truth.  The  sanction  which 
freneral  consent  sometimes  bestows,  merely  because 
it  is  general  consent,  upon  the  most  palpable  distor- 
tions of  a  writer  s  meaning,  may  be  instanced  by  a 
simple  case,  where  in  a  very  well-known  quasi- 
proverb  not  only  are  the  plain  words  of  the  author 
completely  misstated,  but  sense  (a  usual  attribute  of 
popular  sayings)  is  thereby  neutralized.  Who  has 
not  heard  the  following  couplet  quoted?— 

Convince  a  man  against  his  will, 
He's  of  the  same  opinion  still. 

But  the  author  of  Iludibras  was  a  writer  too  saga- 
cious to  indite  such  a  contradiction  in  terms  :  and 
accordingly  in  the  original  the  passage  reads:— 

He  that  complies  against  his  will 
Is  of  his  own  opinion  still. 

A  peculiar  liability  to  mistake  in  our  estimate  of 
ancient  popular  authors  may  arise  from  the  circum- 
stance that,  when  we  discover  a  considerable  coinci- 
dence between  their  modes  of  thought  and  those 
which  we  ourselves  ordinarily  observe,  we  are  dis- 
posed to  think  morally  of  them  as  we  do  of  one  ano- 
ther; and  to  forget  the  vast  disparity  of  the  external 
circumstances  under  w^hich  they  wrote  from  those  in 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS.  O 

which  we  read.  Accordingly  not  only  is  too  little 
of  real  admiration  likely  to  accrue  to  sterling  virtues 
exercised  under  disadvantages  which  we  can  but 
faintly  imagine— not  only  is  too  little  of  extenuation 
admitted  for  apparent  deficiencies  or  overt  faults  of 
character,  but  the  influences  which  the  before-men- 
tioned disparity  may  bring  to  bear  upon  the  interpre- 
tation itself  are  apt  to  be  forgotten. 

Again,  when  an  author,  such  as  Horace,  accom- 
modates himself  to  conventional  trifles  (which,  after 
all,  constitute  the  principal  sum  of  human  life  in  ge- 
neral), w^e  are  inclined  to  attribute  to  his  Works  less 
of  scientific  design — less  of  systematic  deduction — 
less  of  harmony  in  the  parts — than  may  be  consis- 
tent with  the  depth  of  root  whence  the  whole  pro- 
duction is  confessed  to  spring.  And  thus,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  with  authors,  as  with  acquaintances,  'too 
much  familiarity  breeds  contempt.' 

As  far  as  such  circumstances  may  have  conduced 
to  the  origin  and  perpetuation  of  any  misconception 
of  passages  in  the  life  and  writings  of  the  bard  of  Ve- 
nusia,  so  far  their  suggestion  here  is  relevant,  as  an 
apology  for  the  purport  of  the  present  work.  But  as 
new  comment  in  this  province  of  classical  literature 
is  not  generally  felt  to  be  a  desideratum — as  every 
school-boy  is  supposed  to  '  know  his  Horace,'  and 
every  'lecturer'  to  have  'only  not'  contributed  to 
edify  the  conversaziones  of  Maecenas,  because  of  an 
accidental  distance  of  time  and  place — the  author  is 
nuich  more  likelv  to  be  regarded  beforehand  as  an 


6  INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 

innovator  than  as  a  restorer:  no  share  of  that  ante- 
cedent favour  which  encourages  an  attempt  made  to 
supply  an  admitted  deficiency  can  be  his:  the  justifi- 
cation of  his  undertaking  must  rest  upon  its  perform- 
ance; and  even  here  an  unusual  difiiculty  is  encoun- 
tered at  every  step,  in  the  probabihty  that  the  reader 
may  feel  each  new  proposition  as  an  impeachment  of 
his  own  individual  (previous)  judgment. 

The  most  general  form  in  which  the  whole  result 
contemplated  could  be  stated  is  expressible  in  one 
^Nov^— simplification:  the  substitution  of  what  the 
author  conceives  to  be  the  plain,  the  natural,  and  the 
sound,  for  the  conflicting,  the  constrained,  and  the 
untenable.  But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the  pro- 
cess necessary  for  the  attainment  of  this  end  should 
itself  be  invariably  simple  ;  or  that  it  ought  in  any 
instance  to  be  such  as  would  be  devised  without  in- 
dustry, and  estimated  without  care.  But  easy  and 
difficult  are  often  only  other  names  for  known  and  un- 
known; and  the  question  of  the  present  moment  be- 
comes the  axiom  of  the  next.  It  is  certainly  not 
insinuated  here  that  any  argument  employed  in  the 
following  pages  is  likely  to  prove  difficult  to  any  one 

the  author's  hope  and  endeavour  lie  in  the  opposite 

direction :  and  in  several  cases  a  few  passing  remarks 
are  considered  adequate  to  compass  the  required  pur- 
pose. It  is  merely  urged  that  what  is  relied  upon 
as  the  main  utility  of  the  book,  and  as  constituting 
its  chief  claim  to  attention,  ridimelj— simplification 
of  result— shoiM  not  in  any  particular  instance  be 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS.  i 

prejudiced  because  the  author  has  not  been  clever 
enough  to  invent  a  demonstration  as  brief  as  his  pro- 
position, or  because  he  that  reads  may  not  always  run. 
Upon  the  line  of  proof  generally  adopted  it  should 
be  observed  by  the  junior  reader  that  to  argue  from 
deference  to  a  particular  authority  on  one  question, 
and  against  the  validity  of  the  same  authority  on 
another,  however  nearly  similar,  infers  no  inconsis- 
tency.    In  some  practical  affairs,  such  as  the  rules 
which  govern  the  proceedings  of  courts  of  justice,  it 
is  convenient  to  restrict  controversial  tendencies  by 
forbidding  to  go  behind  certain  precedents  :  but  in 
matters  of  opinion,  authority  is  supposed  to  be  quo- 
ted, neither  to  favour  despatch,  nor  yet  to  serve  the 
purposes  of  advocacy,  but  because  the  party  citing 
such  believes  it,  in  the  given  instance,  to  be  right;  and 
it  is  just  as  competent  for  him  to  shew  cause,  the 
next  moment,  against  the  reception  of  the  same  au- 
thority, as  it  is  to  originate  any  inquiry,  improvement, 
or  discovery  whatsoever.     In  the  case,  however,  of 
verbal  investigations  proper  to  a  dead  language,  a 
more  than  ordinary  weight  must  certainly  be  due  to 
long-established  authority,  as  the  utmost  discover- 
able result  here  can  never  ascend  higher  than  the 
ascertainment  of  past  facts,  and  these  are  not  to  be 
arrived  at  by  any  mere  process  of  reasoning.     Still, 
considerable  scope  for  inference  exists  in  the  compa- 
rison of  testimonies,  the  adjustment  of  contradictions, 
and  the  assignment  of  their  proper  rank  to  authorities. 
But  as  new  views  of  ancient  compositions  remarkable 


/ 


8 


INTllODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


in  themselves  not  less  for  versatility  of  style  than  di- 
versity of  matter,  must  arise,  in  a  peculiar  degree, 
independently  of  any  consecutive  train  of  suggestion, 
such  a  uniformity  of  argument  as  would  connect  the 
parts  cannot  be  expected  in  a  Work  introduced  to 
the  reader's  notice  under  the  present  title.     Indeed 
no  species  of  comment  can  well  be  conceived  more 
likely,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  to  prove  fragmen- 
tary in  detail,  and  unsymmetrical  as  a  whole.     Con- 
tinuous deduction  being  thus  generally  out  of  the 
question,  arrangement  becomes  not  only  arbitrary,  but 
in  a  great  degree  immaterial.     Two  limitations  only 
are  necessary : — that  the  author  be  made  as  far  as  pos- 
sible his  own  commentator,  by  the  placing  of  such  pas- 
sages in  juxtaposition  as  reflect  mutual  illustration; 
and  that  any  familar  order  be  not  disturbed  for  the 
mere  novelty  of  deviation.     Illustrative  coincidence, 
however,  of  original  views,  can  be  rarely  expected ; 
and  it  involves  at  best  somewhat  of  reciprocal  as- 
sumption: accordingly  the  passages  conmiented  upon 
are  taken,  for  the  most  part,  indiscriminately  as  they 
occur  in  the  order  of  their  publication. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  the  term 
'  publication'  bears  a  peculiar  meaning  in  this  case. 
Horace  '  published'  his  writings  chiefly  in  order  that 
by  this  help,  as  through  an  instrument  elegantly 
adapted  to  the  mind's  eye,  a  select  intellectual /t'?/? 
might  contrast  symmetrical  pictures  of  external  na- 
ture, and  of  virtue,  with  correlative  deformities  of 
artificial  society,— and  smile:  while  the  moral  essays 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


of  Lucilius  and  Juvenal  were  designed  as  a  glaring 
mirror  in  which  a  corrupt  public  might  behold  its 
own  turpitude, — and  blush.  It  is  true,  the  bard  of 
Yenusia  soon  perceived,  with  a  proud  foresight,  that 
the  sphere  of  his  own  chosen  intimates  could  not  cir- 
cumscribe the  diffusion  of  his  fame — that  the  propa- 
gation of  the  tones  of  his  Muse  would  ultimately  be 
co-ordinate  with  the  echo  of  the  Koman  lyre  itself: 
but  while  he  did  not  affect  to  shun  such  popularity 
as  must  follow  in  the  course  of  natural  consequence, 
this  was  in  no  degree  an  object  of  his  calculation, 
either  as  an  impelling  or  a  restraining  motive.  The 
public  meed  of  praise  was  a  result  of  the  merits;  and 
is  not  to  be  regarded  in  defining  our  poet-philoso- 
pher's views  and  purposes.  In  short,  publication  was, 
in  this  case,  properly  irrespective  o^  publicity. 

In  the  almost  unqualified  praise  accorded  in  these 
pages  to  the  mental  dispositions  and  literary  perform- 
ances of  Horace,  whether  regarded  in  a  poetical  or 
in  a  philosopliical  light,  some  portions  of  liis  Works 
are  assumed  to  be  as  virtually  non-existent  in  fact, 
as  they  should  ever  be  unrecognised  in  publication. 
The  evil  consequences  of  objectionable  expressions, 
spoken  or  written,  are  often  beyond  the  reach  of 
repentance  and  reformation:  but  it  is  a  concession, 
which  the  weakness  of  human  nature  not  less  urgently 
needs,  than  the  good  feeling  of  society  is  prompt  to 
extend,  that  where  a  departure  from  propriety  is 
plainly  ascribable  to  influences,  whether  from  within 
or  from  without,  which  the  party  yielding  to  them 


10 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


11 


had  not  adequate  means,  from  whatever  cause,  of 
viewing  in  their  true  aspect,  and  wlicre  an  assurance 
of  any  kind  exists,  that,  had  his  opportunities  of  re- 
flecting and  judging  been  larger,  his  conduct  would 
have  been  different,  the  record  of  transgression  is 
EXPUNGED,  and  the  offender  stands  exactly  as  though 
he  had  not  transgressed.  Is  this  meed  of  equitable 
charity  to  be  freely  bestowed  upon  those  who  yet 
live  to  encounter,  and  perhaps  again  to  fail  under, 
probation ;  and  is  it  to  be  denied  to  the  memory  of 
those  whose  frailty  is  now  beyond  the  reach  of  trial 
— the  exact  measure  of  whose  faults  is  fixed  ? 

Surely — putting  aside  the  question,  how  far  the 
practical  influences  of  Christianity  would  have  been 
likely  to  affect  the  conduct  of  one  whose  unaided 
light  even  divines  themselves  are  proud  to  reflect 
— there  lives  not  that  scholar  wdio  believes  that,  at 
the  lowest  estimate,  the  judicious  sagacity,  the  re- 
fined taste,  the  philosophic  predilections  of  Horace, 
would  tolerate  even  the  momentary  continuance 
amongst  his  writings  of  the  least  word  which  could 
offend  the  sensibilities  of  such  society  as  w^ould  now 
do  him  homage,  could  he  personally  visit  the  scenes 
of  modern  enlightenment.  But,  in  whatever  degree 
a  coarse  expression,  or  one  offensive  to  morality,  is 
found  to  be  advisedly  and  unreservedly  published 
by  the  poet  laureate  of  a  court,  in  the  same  degree 
is  an  afortiore  proof  afforded  of  the  universal  preva- 
lence of  a  vicious  standard  by  whicli  the  law  of  pub- 
lic opinion  w^ould  be  adjusted  at  tlie  time.     The  sub- 


1' 


mission  yielded  to  this  law  is  as  implicit,  as  both  its 
provisions  and  permissions  in  any  society  must  be 
even  inconceivable  to  the  members  of  many  others. 
Hence  our  surprise  may  in  a  great  measure  be  trans- 
ferred from  the  original  discovery  of  such  passages 
in  our  author  to  the  bad  taste  and  even  the  injustice 
of  retaining  them  on  record.     They  were  penned  ere 
yet  the  Christian  era  dawned  on  man— they  are  re- 
called by  all  else  that  their  author   ever  penned. 
Where  he  sinned,  no  chastening  voice  was  heard — 
where  he  repents,  the  Graces  themselves  intercede. 
Explanation  of  passages,  and  not  their  translation, 
being  the  main  object  of  this  publication,  the  junior 
reader  will  be  disappointed  if  he  expect  much  assist- 
ance from  it  in  the  latter  department.  Indeed,  where- 
ever  an  English  version  is  given,  it  is  intended  merely 
as  an  easy  conveyance  of  the  meaning^  in  the  common 
language  by  which  the  author  and  most  of  his  pro- 
bable readers  speak  and  think.    But  as  the  facility  by 
which  a  composition  in  one  language  is  transmuted 
tastefully  into  the  phrase  of  another,  so  as  to  preserve 
exactly  the  original  sense,  is  a  criterion  not  only  of 
skill  in  both  languages,  but  also  of  adequate  compre- 
hension of  the  sense  of  the  original,  and  as  the  trial 
of  this  performance  is  as  convenient  a  test  in  the 
hands  of  the  classical  examiner  as  the  accomplish- 
ment of  it  is  one  of  the  highest  qualifications  which 
the  student  can  attain,  it  may  be  considered  some 
sort  of  compensation  for  the  barrenness  of  the  Work 
in  this  respect,  that  the  author  should  make  such  re- 


12 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


marks  upon  the  acquirement  in  general  as  he  thhiks 
likely  to  be  useful.  Besides  it  is  a  portion  of  his  ge- 
neral plan  to  interweave  throughout  as  much  of  com- 
bination of  principles,  and  of  reduction  to  class,  as  he 
considers  to  be  compatible  with  his  immediate  sub- 
ject, or  even  to  be  justified  by  any  fair  excuse  arising 
out  of  it. 

Kespecting,  then,  the  version  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  languages  into  English,  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  order  of  the  suggestion  of  ideas  in  the 
former  two  is  chiefly  that  which  would  follow  from 
the  observation  of  things  themselves,  whereas  in  the 
latter  it  is  habitually  subject  to  the  order  of  ver- 
bal dependency.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  (in  differ- 
ent degrees  certainly)  thought  objectivehj—\;Q  think 
grammaticalhj.  What  the  causes  of  this  may  be  we 
cannot  now  stop  to  canvass:  but  the  effect  with  which 
we  have  to  deal  is,  that  two  antagonist  principles 
must  be  reconciled  almost  at  every  iniportant  step. 
However,  that  repugnant  elements  may  be  harmoni- 
ously blended  is  sufficiently  exemplified  in  akindred 
department.  For  instance,  the  essence  of  words  is 
separate  significance ;  while  the  tones  that  compose 
music  are,  apart  from  combination,  almost  wholly 
inexpressive.  Now,  if  words  be  combined  in  prose 
their  scparateness  is  easily  preserved,  and  if  music 
be  produced  by  the  notes  of  an  instrument,  or  by  the 
humming  of  the  voice,  there  is  nothing  to  fetter  the 
continuity.  But  if  language  be  set  to  music,  then  an- 
tagonism between  two  principles  is  at  once  felt,  and 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


13 


that  singer  is  applauded  who,  while  he  renders  duly 
the  melody  of  the  song,  likewise  conveys  its  words: 
and  of  the  same  nature  is  rhythm  in  reading  or  reciting 
written  poetry.*  In  like  manner  the  translator  must 
adapt  opposing  materials,  giving  to  no  element  an 
undue  preponderance  in  the  result,  but  producing  a 
refined,  or  at  least  a  smooth,  comhination. 

The  forms  of  phrase  in  which  any  given  sentiment 
is  expressible  are  indefinite  :  of  these  he  should  con- 
fine himself,  as  closely  as  possible,  to  that  which  the 
text  prefers.     That  is,  his  version  should  be  literal: 
otherwise  he  substitutes  himself  where  he  should 
supply  his  author,  and  this  generally  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  both.     The  modes  of  association  familiar 
to  the  original  language  should  take  precedence:  and 
to  them,  as  far  as  the  genius  of  the  modern  language 
will  permit,  the  new  phrase  should  be  accommodated. 
In  other  words,  the  order  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
words  should  be  preserved  in  its  integrity  when  prac- 
ticable.    But  idioms  may  be  rendered  by  parallel 
idioms.     The  use  of  synonymes  also  should  super- 
sede the  terms  immediately  derived  from  the  original. 
A  syllahkally  adapted  translation  generally  betrays 
a  scant  vocabulary. 

Nor  can  the  habit  of  *  taking  the  words  (as  is  the 

*  This  appears  to  be  the  true  principle  of  the  metrical  ca^sura^ 
whose  effects  have  been  more  accurately  observed  than  their  cause 
has  been  clearly  stated.  The  ccBSura^  by  slurring  in  some  degree 
the  necessary  break  between  terms,  effects  a  compromise  between 
the  two  opposite  elements  of  the  verse  as  above  specified — the 
musical  and  the  sentimental. 


14 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


15 


poor  but  appropriate  phrase)  in  viva  voce  translation 
be  too  strongly  discouraged.  It  mars  the  author,  dulls 
the  translator,  and  wastes  time.  It  is, no  doubt,  a  sound 
exercise  for  the  student  whose  praxis  is  imperfect: 
and  an  advanced  scholar  who  really  cannot,  or  who 
obstinately  will  not,  discard  the  custom,  may  possess 
attainments  and  qualifications  beside  which  the  best 
powers  of  translation  sink  into  insignificance.  But  as 
well  might  a  stiff  row  of  separate  letters  in  a  school- 
boy's copy-book  be  called  a  line  of  running-hand,  as 
a  monotonous  enumeration  of  the  several  words  in  a 
sentence  of  Cicero,  with  the  *  EngUsh'  appended  re- 
spectively to  each,  be  dignified  by  the  misnomer  of 


a  '  translation.' 


With  regard  to  the  employment  by  students,  of 
published  translations,  as  a  means  of  preparation  in 
their  studies,  it  would  appear  that  if  the  translation 
do  not  mislead,  and  if  the  student  do  not  misuse,  a 
considerable  saving  of  time  may  be  effected  by  his 
availing  himself  of  such  aid.  The  translation  in  this 
case  should  always  be  assumed  to  convey  the  mean- 
ing merely,  not  to  specify  the  construction.  The  per- 
fectly just  version  should  indeed  combine  both  with 
elegance.  But  such  are  rare:  and  it  may  be  better 
tha't  the  help  should  not  be  too  complete:  the  rnor- 
ceaux  which  satisfy  the  epicure  would  stint  the  ope- 
rative. If  the  student,  without  due  examination, 
substitutes  the  words  of  the  translation  for  his  own, 
he  abuses  it.  If  he  employs  it  as  an  index  to  the 
meaning  which  he  is  to  bring  out  by  preserving  gram- 


/ 


matical  and  other  proprieties,  he  uses  it  aright.  And 
thus  a  translation  somewhat  resembles  a  guide  to  a 
dissected  map.  Without  it,  in  many  instances,  the 
adapter  of  parts  may  expend  more  time  than  the  ex- 
ercise requites;  and  after  all  may  light  upon  the  cor- 
rect disposition  by  accident,  or  by  guess.  But  its 
presence  is  not  designed  to  spare  him  the  trouble  of 
minutely  adjusting  his  materials.  However,  the  need 
of  help  in  this,  as  in  any  other  case,  implies  propor- 
tionate inability. 

Thus  much  the  author  has  deemed  it  advisable  to 
state  on  this  important  topic,  lest  his  views  he  mis- 
conceived from  the  circumstance  that  he  translates 
or  paraphrases  indiscriminately  as  may  best  forward 
explanation  of  his  views  in  the  following  examination 
of  texts:  and  also  in  the  hope  that  the  student  may 
be  thus  better  assisted  to  express  his  own  *  original 
views'  by  translation  in  general,  than  he  would  be 
by  being  furnished  with  a  formal  version  of  the  pas- 
sages here  brou^xht  under  consideration. 

Finally,  upon  the  whole  Work  the  author  may  ob- 
serve that  he  could  sincerely  desire  the  performance 
of  it  to  have  been  originally  unnecessary.  He  could 
wish,  for  the  subject's  sake,  that  Orellius — as  yet 
the  'ultimus  ille  bonorum! — had  really  completed  the 
task  of  annotation  which  Terentius  Scaurus  began ; 
that  the  elegant  biography  of  Milman — whose  Work 
on  the  whole  is  an  honour  to  the  age  that  has  pro- 
duced it — had  finally  crowned  the  structure  whose 
first  stone  was  laid  bv  Suetonius.     Britain  and  Ger- 


16 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


17 


many — the  lands  of  Bentley  and  Niebuhr — would 
thus  have  appropriately  applied  'the  last  hand'  to  a 
notable  work.  But  that  work  still  remains,  in  both 
its  departments,  unfinished.  The  interpretation  of 
Horace  is  not  yet  emancipated  from  the  glosses  which 
imperfect  or  unsound  commentary  has  introduced  in 
the  lapse  of  ages — the  Life  of  Horace  still  exhibits 
the  exaggerations  of  fiction  unrelieved  by  the  poetry 
of  romance. 

The  present  performance  is  indeed  very  limited  in 
its  application,  and  is  far  from  assuming  to  be  com- 
plete in  its  execution.  But  as,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
author  will  rejoice  if  even  the  arraignment  of  his 
faults  may  serve  the  cause  of  classical  truth,  so,  on 
the  other,  he  trusts  to  classical  candour  in  believing 
that,  wherever  a  denial  of  his  statements  or  inferences 
maybe  advanced,  the  disproof  relied  upon  will  be 
likewise  furnished. 

With  reference  to  the  closing  Section,  upon  which 
must  rest  his  own  pretensions  to  compose  in  that 
lann-ua^^e  whose  use  and  structure  he  assumes  tocri- 
ticise,  it  becomes  him  to  be  silent.  Its  annexation 
to  the  main  Work  must  evidently  appear  to  be  very 
much  due  to  circumstances  of  personal  retrospect. 
He  trusts,  however,  that  it  may  in  some  degree  con- 
tribute to  relieve  the  prosaic  details  of  the  rest  of  the 
volume. 


SECTION  II. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR  OF  THE  BARD  OF  VENUSIA. 

It  is  a  development  of  our  natural  susceptibility  of 
social  impressions,  that  we  not  only  desire  to  be  in- 
formed of  the  character  of  those  whose  endowments 
in  any  department  of  life  have  won  the  admiration 
of  mankind,  but  that  we  even  cling  with  a  fond  at- 
tachment to  records  of  their  circumstances,  casual 
habits,  and  personal  appearance. 

Hence  biographical  sketches,  and  pictorial  resem- 
blances, prefixed  to  the  works  of  eminent  authors, 
convey  to  the  mind  of  the  admirer  of  their  esta- 
blished fame  a  dreamy  realization  of  introductory 
acquaintance.  The  cold  memorial  of  the  real  past 
becomes  the  vivid  impersonation  of  the  ideal  pre- 
sent: and  the  reader  almost  shares  in  the  romantic 
vision  of  the  Scottish  chieftain  : 

"  Again  his  soul  he  interchanged 
With  friends  whom  death  had  long  estranged  ; 
As  warm  each  hand,  each  brow  as  gay, 
As  if  they  parted  yesterday." 

We  may,  on  this  principle,  fairly  accord  to  the 
following  lines  a  precedence  in  our  examination  of 
certain  passages  in  the  works  of  the  poet-philosopher 
of  Venusia. 

B 


i 


18 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


Nunc  ad  me  redeo  libertino  patre  natum  ; 
quem  rodunt  omnes  libertino  patre  natum, 
Nunc  quia,  M^cenas,  tibi  sim  convictor,  at  olim 
Quod  mihi  pareret  legio  Romana  tribuno. 

See.  I.  vi.  45-48. 

No  commentator  or  translator  has  heretofore  ques- 
tioned the  literal  acceptation  of  this  prominent  pas- 
sage. That  is,  the  author  is  universally  under- 
stood here  to  make  literal  statements  respecting 
certain  relations  of  his  (then)  present  and  past 
positions  in  life,  which  are  themselves  as  gene- 
rally supposed  to  have  been  literally  as  stated  by 
his  expositors.  And  hence  all  the  biographical 
notices  which  have  endeavoured  to  trace  the  poet's 
chequered  course,  from  the  meagre  outline  attri- 
buted to  Suetonius  (probably  composed  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  second  century  of  our  Era),  to  the 
diversified  and  elaborate  disquisition  of  Milman, 
in  1849,  allege  as  fact  that  which  there  is  no  evi- 
dence whatsoever  to  attribute  to  any  other  source 
than  the  usual  construction  of  this  passage.  We 
are  of  course  not  strictly  entitled  to  conclude  that 
those  who  suppress  mention  of  their  authorities 
necessarily  rest  on  the  only  voucher  which  those 
who  quote  any  do,  in  fact,  adduce.  But  the  nature 
of  the  case  will  be  found  to  supply  abundant  proofs 
to  the  same  virtual  purport. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  analyze  this  cardinal  sen- 
tence.    For  as,  in  the  words  of  Milman, — "without 


DIVISION  OF  SUBJECT. 


19 


the  biography  of  the  poet  the  poetry  of  Horace  cannot 
be  truly  appreciated,  indeed,  can  hardly  be  under- 
stood,"— so,  conversely,  without  a  sure  interpretation 
of  the  writings  of  an  author,  the  substantive  facts  of 
whose  life  are  to  be  gleaned  solely  from  his  works, 
his  biographer  may  mistake  fiction  for  fact,  or  even 
the  absurd  for  the  actual. 

The  statements  which  the  commentators  unani- 
mously attribute  to  Horace  in  the  preceding  passage, 
some  by  direct  annotation,  some  by  silent  acquies- 
cence in  the  views  of  others,  seem  to  be  fairly  com- 
prehended in  the  three  following  propositions  : — 
1st, — That  he  stood  in  the  relation  of  convictor  to  his 
patron,  Maecenas,  at  the  period  of  writing  it.  2nd, — 
That  he  had  previously  filled  the  office  of  Tribunus 
Militum.  3rd, —  That  he  had,  as  such,  commanded  a 
Roman  Legion.  And  as  the  fortunes  of  our  poet  ap- 
pear to  have  suffered  no  declension  previously  to  his 
sharing  in  the  final  disaster  of  Marcus  Junius  Brutus, 
the  last  proposition  virtually  includes  another,  viz., — 
That  he  led  the  said  legion  at  the  great  battle  of  Phi- 
lippi.  Our  present  inquiry  is  intended  to  investigate, 
(with  due  deference  to  the  proper  claims  of  the  argu- 
ment ad  verecundiam),  how  far  all  this  is  certain  or 
probable ;  or  whether  Horace  may  have  merely  in- 
tended to  instance  indirectly  (a  form  of  style  not 
unusual  with  him)  the  language  of  exaggerated  ridi- 
cule, to  which  both  his  patron  and  himself  were  ex- 
posed from  the  sneers  of  the  malevolent  and  the 
envious;  as  he  does  elsewhere  directly ,  as,  for  ex- 

B  2 


I! 


20 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


PROFESSOR  ZUMPT  S  CANON. 


21 


ample, — '' F or tunce films,  omnes,"  Ser.  ii., 6, 49.  ''Deos 
quoniam  j^opius  contingis^^  Id.  52. — Jovis  auribus 
ista  servas,  Ep.  i.  19,  43.  We  shall,  therefore,  first 
examine  the  general  phraseology  of  the  passage  by 
authorized  rules  of  syntactical  construction  ;  and 
shall,  secondly,  discuss  the  statements  involved,  as 
independent  propositions. 

The  text  is  undisputed,  save  that  editions  give 
indifferently  sum  and  sim.  The  latter  is  admitted  by 
all  to  be  sustained  by  the  greater  number  of  MSS. ; 
and  among  the  many  commentators  who  support  it 
are  Bentley  and  Heindorf  This  reading  will  further, 
it  is  hoped,  derive  weighty  confirmation  from  the 
second  part  of  this  argument,  which  will  be  found 
sufficiently  independent  to  supply  corroboration  even 
of  what  is  not  denied  to  be  essential  to  the  first ; 
and  most  probably  had  Heindorf  and  the  other 
advocates  of  sim  regarded  what  appears  to  be  the 
real  import  of  the  context  as  to  the  term  convictor, 
they  would  have  taken  higher  ground  than  the  mere 
assimilation  of  mood  to  pareret  supplies.  And  to 
this  ground,  be  it  particularly  observed,  all  objections 
are  directed ;  for  the  counter-arguments  of  Orellius, 
Reisig,  and  Wiistemann  amount  at  most  to  this,  that 
the  subjunctive  after  quia  is  not  so  necessary  as  after 
quod.  But  this  assumes  the  meaning — for  it  may  not 
be  denied  that  both  words,  as  occasion  requires,  qua- 
lify both  indicative  and  subjunctive  clauses — and 
therefore  would  be  a  petitio  principii,  did  their  oppo- 
nents occupy  our  present  ground.  Bentley's  altera- 
tion of  the  order  of  words  in  line  3  {sim  tibi,  Mcece- 


nas),  is  quite  immaterial  to  this  argument ;  and  is 
merely  noticed  here,  in  order  that  nothing  be  held 

back. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  scrutinize  the  con- 
struction :  and  upon  this  head,  a  law  which  appears 
applicable  to  the  given  case  is  laid  down  so  fully  in  de- 
tail by  Professor  Zumpt,  in  section  549  of  his  Philo- 
sophical Grammar,  that  the  quotation  of  the  whole 
is  desirable  to  the  purposes  of  our  argument.  (The 
quotation  is  from  the  translation  published  by  the 
learned  Schmitz.)  "  When  a  proposition  containing 
the  statement  of  a  fact,  and  therefore  expressed  by  the 
indicative,  has  another  dependent  upon  it  or  added 
to  it  (by  a  conjunction  or  a  relative  pronoun)  the 
dependent  clause  is  expressed  by  the  subjunctive, 
provided  the  substance  of  it  is  alleged  as  the  sentiment 
or  the  words  of  the  person  spoken  of,  and  not  of  the 
speaker  himself.  Thus  the  proposition  :  Noster  am- 
bulabat  in  publico  Themistocles,  quod  somnum  capere 
non  posset  (Cic,  Tusc,  iv.  19),  suggests,  that  The- 
mistocles  himself  gave  this  reason  for  his  walking  at 
night.  But  I,  the  writer  of  the  proposition,  may  ex- 
press the  reason  as  my  own  remark,  and  in  this  case 
the  indicative  poterat  is  required,  as  well  as  ambulabat. 
Bene  majores  nostri  accubitionem  epularem  amicorum^ 
quia  vitce  conjunct? onein  haberet^  convivium  nomina- 
runt,  Cic,  Cat  Maj.  13.  Socrates  accusatus  est,  quod 
corrumperet  juventutem  et  novas  sxiperstitiones  inducer  et. 
Quintil.,  iv.  4.  Aristides  nonne  ab  eam  causam  ex- 
pidsus  est  patria,  quod  prceter  modum  Justus  esset  ? 
Cic,  Tusc.  V.  36.     The  clause  beginning  with  quod 


22 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


SYNTACTICAL  INFERENCE. 


23 


in  the  second  of  these  examples,  contains  the  reasons 
alleged  by  the  accusers  of  Socrates ;  and  the  subjunc- 
tive in  the  last  example  indicates  that  the  reason 
there  stated  was  alleged  by  the  Athenians  them- 
selves, according  to  the  well-known  story,  and  it  re- 
mains uncertain  whether  Aristides  was  really  so  just; 
but  this  uncertainty  would  not  exist  if  the  indicative 
had  been  used." 

It  is  evident  from  this  extract  that  quia  and  quod 
are  alike  employed   in  linking  the  dependent  to 
the  absolute  clause.     Indeed  quia  is  properly  the 
old  neuter  plural,  which  afterwards  migrated  into 
the  usual  form  quce;  and,  that  quod  was,  originally, 
a  pure  relative,  and  derived  its  subjunctive  separate- 
ness  from  ellipsis   of  its  antecedent,   we  must  be 
convinced  with  Sanctius,  without,  at  the  same  time, 
coinciding  in  such  extreme  propositions  as  the  fol- 
lowing— "  Qw(?6?  particula  prima  linguam  Latinam 
post  Ciceronis  aureum  saeculum  ansa  est  deturpare. 
H^c  Aristotelis  et  Platonis  dialecticam,  et  utramque 
philosophiam,   pessime  dilaceravit."     Min.,   iii.  14. 
Thus,  the  relation  subsisting  between  quia  and  quod 
corresponds  with  that  which  marks  the  Greek  are 
and  oTi.    Further  upon  quod  we  find  in  Wiistemann 
the  following  remarkable  comment  under  the  pas- 
sage in  question — "  Quod  bezieht  sich  nur  auf  die 
vorstellung  des  Neidischen."     And  upon  quia,  Mar- 
tini, in  the  Lexicon  Philologicum,  observes — "  Quia, 
oTi,  aliquando  servit  mimesi."     Now  from  Quintilian 
we  collect  the  following  definition  o^  mimesis — "  Imi- 
tatio  morum  alienorum — et  in  factis  et  in  dictis  ver- 


sata."  But  although  there  were  no  testimony  to  this 
precise  effect,  the  argument,  so  far  as  it  yet  goes, 
needs  no  cumulative  evidence.  All  that  is  here 
maintained  is,  that  the  phrase  or  diction,  in  which 
certain  statements  are  couched,  supplies  adequate 
proof  to  show  that  they  are  intended  by  the  writer 
to  appear  as  the  sayings  of  his  enemies.  How  far 
these  sayings  are  just  and  true,  will  depend  on  the 
nature  of  the  case,  i.  e.,  on  the  matter  of  the  propo- 
sitions weighed  relatively  to  known  or  probable  rela- 
tions of  life.  And  this  latter  question  alone  remains ; 
for  doubtless  no  real  force  would  attach  to  the  con- 
ceivable objection,  that  in  the  first  of  the  examples 
quoted  by  Zumpt,  the  subjunctive  statement  was 
probably  true;  in  the  second,  certainly  so-,  and  in 
each  of  the  other  two,  believed,  or,  at  all  events,  alleged, 
to  be  so,  by  the  parties  to  whom  the  writer  attributes 
them,  and  who  are  thus  entitled  to  be  heard  as  wit- 
nesses testifying  the  fact  to  be  so  and  so ;  and  that, 
although  such  testimony  was  afterwards  disproved] 
in  the  cases  of  Socrates  and  Aristides,  yet  the  mul- 
titude of  witnesses  in  the  present  case  (omnes)  is  in 
itself  a  credible  voucher  of  matters  not  heretofore 
disputed.  Any  such  objection  is  merely  apparent; 
for  it  is  known  that  parties  who  invent  stories  for 
purposes  of  malice  or  ridicule  often  really  come  at 
last  to  believe  their  own  tales,  while  the  bulk  of 
hearers  (the  popular  omnes)  will  readily  adopt,  and 
propagate  as  fact,  a  censorious  or  ludicrous  saying, 
such  as,  suppose,—"  Lo !  the  son  of  a  quondam  slave 
chums  with  Mcecenas  !     The  profuse  and  pompous 


I 


24 


BIOGBAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


magnate  must  needs  be  king  of  his  company,  when  he 
cannot  revel  in  feasting  without  such  appendages  to 
his  board  r     Or,  again— '*Lo!  a  veritable  specimen 
of  Brutus' s  lieutenant-generals!      Foremost  in  the 
ranks  at  Philippi;  the  last  man  to  fly,  of  course  !  Little 
wonder,  in  good  sooth,  that  the  great  regicide's*  Evil 
Genius  should  have  looked  in  upon  him  occasionally,  if 
such  were  his  general  military  arrangements  /"     We 
may  conclude  our  review  of  the  syntactical  con- 
struction by  reference  to  a  remarkable  passage  in 
the  same  Sermo,  where  quod  introduces  a  proposi- 
tion, in  the  subjunctive  form,  which  is  known  to 
convey  a  negative  implication: 

*     *     Non  solicitus  mihi  quod  eras 
Surgendum  sit  mane,  obeundus  Marsya,— 

Sebm.  i.  6,  119-20. 

and  shall  next  proceed  to  the  discussion  of  the  three 
component  propositions,  seriatim. 

First,  Is  it  certain  or  probable  that  Horace  really 
intends  the  term  convictor  to  represent  his  social  rela- 
tion to  Maecenas  ? 

The  following  quotations  comprise  all  the  instances 
adduced  by  lexicographers  to  illustrate  the  use  of  the 
term  convictor  in  the  extant  memorials  of  Latin  lite- 
rature.    In  our  own  author  it  occurs  once  before, 

Me  Capitolinus  convictore  usus  amicoque  a  puero  est. 
I.  Ser.  iv.  96-97.  In  the  volume  of  Cicero's  works 
commonly  called  Epistolce  ad  Familiares,  we  find  the 
following  passage :-"  Utor  familiaribus  et  quotidianis 

*  See  Plutarch's  well-known  story. 


ETYMOLOGICAL  INDUCTION. 


25 


convictoribusqvLOS  secumMitylenis  Cratippus  adduxit, 
hominibus  et  doctis  et  illi  probatissimis." — Lib.  xvi. 
(Tironi)  Ep.  21.     (In  the  edition  of  Scheller,  as  also 
in  that  of  Forcellinus,  in  the  library  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin,  the  reference  is  erroneously  to  the  se- 
cond Epistle.)     Again,  where  the  bard  of  Sulmo 
expostulates  with  a  false  friend,  who  had  deserted 
him  in  his  season  of  exile,  he  reminds  him  of  their 
once  domestic  familiarity  in  these  terms: — Ille  ego 
convictor  densoque  domesticus  usu.     Ep.  ex  Pont.  iv. 
3,  15.     Suetonius,  in  his  unreserved  and  therefore 
often  repulsive  history  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius, 
having  devoted  a  chapter  to  sketching  the  tyrant's 
conduct  towards  his  ''  veteres  amicos  ac  familiares," 
as  also  to  those  whom  he  had  chosen,  "  velut  con- 
siliarios  in  negotiis  publicis,"  opens  the  next  chap- 
ter thus   distinctively : — ^'  Nihilo   lenior  in   convic- 
tores  Grceculos,  quibus  vel  maxim e  acquiescebat." 
Lib.  iii.  56.    And  lastly,  in  the  Epistles  of  Seneca  (as 
the  author  himself  styles  those  compositions,  which 
Moretus  regards  rather  as  common-places),  where 
he  dwells  upon  the  pernicious  effects  of  bad  example, 
we   read  thus :— "  Unum  exemplum   aut  luxuri^ 
aut  avariti^  multum  inali  facit:   Convictor  delicatus 
paullatim  enervat et  emollit:  malignus  comes  quamvis 
candido  et  simplici  rubiginem  suam  affricuit"— Epist. 
ad  Lucil.  7  ;  a  passage  which,  we  may  observe  inci- 
dentally, as  has  been  well  remarked  by  Lipsius,  illus- 
trates the   '^^rugo  mera''  of  Horace  in  Serm.'  i.  4  ; 
but  he  is  not  so  correct  in  further  stating  that  the  6 
t/(7^o\^/xeVor  of  Epictetus  represents  such  a  character 


->•   u 


26 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


as  described  by  Horace  and  Seneca ;  for  the  Greek 
term  means  begrimed  by  aspersion  of  soil,  and  no- 
thing more ;  whereas  both  the  Latin  words  (particu- 
larly that  of  Horace)  imply  additionally  the  notion 
of  deletei'ious  corrosiveness. 

From  the  aggregate  of  the  above  instances  it  is 
plain  that  convictor  is  never  a  term  of  dignity^  but  is 
employed  either  in  associations  of  contempt  or  as  inti- 
mating a  chum-like  familiarity.  The  only  passage 
which  seems  unfavourable  to  this  view  is  that  from 
the  Ciceronian  Epistles  ;  for  the  popular  estimate  of 
the  character  of  Petillius  neutralizes  thejuxta-position 
of  the  honourable  term  "  amicd'  in  the  quotation  re- 
ferring to  him.  But  it  is  particularly  to  be  noted  that 
the  twenty-first  Epistle  above  specified  (as  also  the 
twenty-fifth  of  the  same  Book),  is  not  the  composition 
of  the  great  Cicero,  though  found  only  in  his  "Works," 
but  of  his  son  (and  these,  moreover,  the  only  extant 
productions  of  his  pen),  who  was  at  best  (even  with- 
out our  giving  full  assent  to  the  severe  strictures  pro- 
nounced upon  his  conduct  by  Seneca  and  Pliny)  a  vo- 
latile and  unsteady  person,  not  to  be  relied  upon  in  any 
way,  save  as  being  a  brave  and  smart  military  oflicer. 
And  as  these  letters  are  penitential  for  past  extrava- 
gance and  dissipation,  and  are  addressed  to  his  father's 
intimate  friend,  Tullius  Tiro,  it  is  highly  probable 
that,  with  the  ardour  of  a  new  convert,  or  the  simu- 
lation of  a  plausible  roue,  he  may  have  greatly  co- 
loured and  exaggerated  the  terms  of  his  intimacy 
with  these  men  of  learning  and  character;  if,  indeed, 
the  term  convictor ibus  he  not  itself  actually  borrowed 


SOCIETY  OF  M.a:CENAS. 


27 


from  the  associations  of  his  long-continued  habits  of 
company-keeping.  For  the  most  favourable  estimate 
of  his  character  see  Niebuhr  and  Middleton. 

No  doubt,  where  the  principal  term  expresses  a 
relation  which  must  itself  be  referred  principally  to 
the  same  variable  standard  by  which  the  particular 
applicability  in  question  is  to  be  adjusted,  viz.,  the 
changeful  modes  of  ^as^^,  considerable  allowance  must 
be  made  for  the  difference  of  conclusion  to  which  indi- 
viduals will  feel  themselves  conducted  by  their  re- 
spective estimates  of  proprieties ;  and  it  is  not  pre- 
tended here  that  the  old-established  impressions  can 
be  so  far  unsettled  as  fully  to  establish  new  views. 
However,  as  in  this  instance  the  choice  seems  limited 
to  two,  every  element  of  likelihood  is  of  a  double 
value;  and  therefore  the  following  considerations  are 
strongly  recommended  to  the  reader's  attention,  and 
are  submitted  without  any  comment,  the  utmost  aim 
of  which  could  be  merely  to  persuade. 

Supposing  the  meaning  of  convictor  to  be  as  above 
stated,  shall  we  believe  that  the  poor,  lowly-born, 
poet-philosopher,  just  emerging,  not  merely  from 
the  destitution  consequent  on  the  confiscation  of 
his  little  patrimony,  but  also  from  the  degradation 
attendant  on  the  utter  prostration  of  the  republi- 
can cause  (for  which  he  had  recently  and  openly, 
though  constrainedly,  borne  arms),  seriously  meant 
to  express  in  public,  by  the  choice  of  such  a  term, 
the  private  character  of  his  intercourse  w^ith  the 
first  subject  of  the  empire  ?  Supposing  the  moral 
and  mental  eclat  of  that  celebrated   statesman  to 


28 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


INFERENCE  FROM  CARDINAL  DATES. 


29 


have  reached  no  higher  appreciable  value  than 
that  assigned  by  Wieland  or  Niebuhr,  shall  we  feel 
no  surprise  that  freedom  so  great  should  characte- 
rise the  earlier  stage  of  our  author's  intimacy  ?  That 
this  should  be  thus  broadly  stated  in  the  first  public 
announcement  of  that  intimacy  made  by  Horace;  and 
in  an  essay  which  he  opens  by  merely  complimenting 
his  patron  on  being  too  high-minded  to  "  scorn" 
humble  folk  as  such  ?  Or  that  so  great  confidence 
of  tone  should  be  assumed  by  a  young  man,  as  mo- 
dest and  retiring  as  he  was  shrewd  and  sagacious,  at 
the  very  outset  of  an  uphill  course  of  authorship, 
particularly  if  we  suppose,  with  Walchnaer  and 
other  eminent  moderns,  that  Horace  had,  before  ac- 
quaintance began,  satirised  Maecenas  himself,  along 
with  others  of  the  Ca3sarean  or  Imperialist  party  ? 
It  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  go,  with  Bentley,  the 
length  of  maintaining  that  Horace  wrote,  as  he  cer- 
tainly published  J  the  contents  of  his  various  books  of 
Odes,  Satires,  and  Epistles,  separately/  and  consecu- 
tively, in  a  certain  order.  Still  less  can  we  assent  to 
Dr.  Tate's  dogma,  that  Horace,  in  Ser.  i.  4,  *'  says,  as 
plainly  as  a  man  can  say  it,  that  he  had  not  then 
written  anything  which  could  entitle  him  to  the  name 
of  a  poet;"  the  confutation  of  which  opinion  is  quoted 
by  Milman,  from  the  Classical  Museum,  No.  v. 
p.  215,  to  the  effect  tliat  Horace  elsewhere  uses  si- 
milar language,  as  in  Ep.  ii.  1,  HI,  when  his  reputa- 
tion must  have  been  well  established.  Besides,  some 
specimens  of  his  genius  must  have  existed  when 
Virf^il  and  Varius  undertook  to  show  Mascenas  V/w/J 


esset,'  or  ivhat  manner  of  man  he  was.      But  this  is 
very  certain: — First,  that  the  first  book  of  Satires 
was  \i\^  first  published  book.  Secondly,  that,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  amount  of  the  detached  pieces 
by  which  alone  it  is  conceivable  that  he  could  then 
have  attracted  notice  in  any  degree,  and  which  are 
probably  now  scattered  throughout  his  works  (for 
we  hear  nothing  of  any  works  of  Horace  being  lost), 
still  his  reputation  must  have  been  comparatively 
insignificant  as  an  author,  previously  to  the  publica- 
tion of  the  very  works  which  have  immortalized  his 
name  to  succeeding  ages.    Thirdly,  that  as  tlie  battle 
of  Philippi  was  fought  b.  c.  42,  a  minimum  space 
for  the  known  intermediate  circumstances  is  allowed 
by  fixing  his  introduction  to  Maecenas  at  b.  c.  39, 
and  the  publication  in  question  at  or  about  b.  c.  34 
or  35,  and  when  Horace  was  about  thirty  years  of  age. 
Fourthly,  that  as  Horace's  last  publication,  viz.,  his 
second  book  of  Epistles,  appeared  at  or  about  b.  c. 
12,    and  the  death   of  M^cenas  happened  about 
B.  c.  7,  it  follows  that   this   supposed  declaration 
of  his  familiarity  with  the  Emperor's  state-adviser 
must  have  been  published  within  the  first  four  ji^divs 
of  an  intimacy  extending  over  thirty  years ;  and 
in  the  very  first  old,  series  of  publications  extending 
over  twenty-three  years,  and  which  seem  necessary, 
according  to  their  development,  to  establish  the  author's 
character.     Or,  finally,  on  the  extreme  supposition 
that  the  term  convictor  is  unobjectionable,  are  the 
known  social  qualifications  of  Horace  sufficient  to 


!.'l! 


30 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


justify  the  fact,  or  is  the  sanguineness  of  a  young 
writer  adequate  to  account  for  the  statement,  that  one 
of  the  humblest  and  most  unfavourably  circumstanced 
men  in  Rome  had  reached  his  maximum  intimacy 
with  the  first  literary  patron  of  the  day  at  a  period 
when  both  the  length  of  his  acquaintance  with  that 
personage,  and  his  own  public  authorship,  were  at  or 
near  a  comparative  minimum  ? 

All  things  considered,  is  the  term  convictor  more 
suited  to  the  vocabulary  of  the  coarse  and  envious  re- 
viler,or  to  that  of  him  whomMilman  supposes  to  have 
been  the  most  sensible  and  the  best  informed  man  in 
the  society  in  which  he  moved  ?  Whether  more  likely 
to  be  adopted  as  the  sneer  of  some  disappointed  syco- 
phant, or  as  the  suggestion  of  a  spirit  whose  nobility 
of  independence  is  truthfully  reflected  in  the  roman- 
tic pride  of  honest,  muse-taught,  Robert  Burns  ?    Is 
such  the  adopted  designation  of  him  respecting  whom 
the  above-mentioned  biographer  thus  justly  writes: 
"  Horace,  indeed,  asserted  and  maintained  greater 
independence  of  personal  character  than  most  sub- 
jects of  the  new  empire  ;  there  is  a  tone  of  dignity 
and  self-respect,  even  in  the  most  adulatory  passages 
of  his  writings ;"  and  again,  in  whom  he  commends 
deservedly  a  "  singular  tact  and  delicacy  through 
which  the  poet  preserves  his  freedom  by  never  tres- 
passing beyond  its  proper  bounds,"  and  whose  attach- 
ment to  '  the  glorious  privilege  of  being  indepen- 
dent,' in  his  refusal  of  a  confidential  oflSce  placed  at 
his  disposal  by  the  Emperor  himself,  is  so  elegantly 


WAS  HORACE  A  MILITARY  TRIBUNE  ? 


31 


eulogised  by  Wieland?  In  another  point  of  view, 
are  we  to  suppose  this  hoon-fellow-like  epithet  to  be 
jointly  applied,  in  a  public  notification,  to  a  patron, 
of  whom  the  same  polished  writer  remarks:  '*  Maece- 
nas in  the  mean  time  was  winning,  if  not  to  the  party, 
or  to  personal  attachment  towards  Augustus,  at  least 
to  contented  acquiescence  in  his  sovereignty,  those 
who  would  yield  to  the  silken  charms  of  social  en- 
joyment:" and  again,  '^  The  mutual  amity  of  all  the 
great  men  of  letters,  in  this  period,  gives  a  singu- 
larly pleasing  picture  of  the  society  which  was  har- 
monized and  kept  together  by  the  example  and  in- 
fluence of  M^cenas?"  Or  finally,  does  not  the  im- 
mediate substitution  of  the  term  "  amicum,''  in  the 
expostulation  with  his  enemies  which  follows  this 
passage,  seem  intended  as  the  delicate  corrective  of 
a  vulgar  taunt?  But  of  the  sequel  to  the  passage 
more  hereafter.  For  the  present,  such  appear  to  be 
the  questions  proper  to  the  case. 

2ndly.  Is  it  certain  or  probable  that  Horace  ever 
was  a  Tribunus  Militum  ?  If  any  doubt  has  been 
cast  upon  the  aflirmative  of  the  first  proposition,  this 
will  be  reflected  a  priori  in  some  degree  upon  the 
second.  And  it  is  here  especially  to  be  noted 
t\i^t— if  the  present  passage  does  not  establish  the  fact, 
it  is  morally  certain  that  no  proof  of  it  whatsoever 
exists,  or  ever  did  exist.  This  sentence  supplies  the 
only  evidence  adduced  by  those  who  supply  any ; 
for  quotations  of  the  authority  of  biographers  by 
biographers  must  be  left  out  of  the  question.     And 


li 


32 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  THE  MILITARY  TRIBUNES. 


33 


it  is  an  extreme  concession  to  logical  technicality  to 
imaf^ine  the  remote  possibility,  that  Suetonius  and 
others  may  have  rested  their  assertions  on  some 
independent  testimony.  Nor  should  we  insist  upon 
the  circumstance  of  Suetonius  being  not  only  the 
earliest  extant  biographer  of  Horace,  but  also  a 
writer  so  ancient  as  the  beginning  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, to  the  extent  of  supposing  that  he  probably 
therefore  possessed  peculiar  sources  of  correct  infor- 
mation above  any  that  we,  at  this  distance  of  time, 
can  command.  He  lived  at  a  period  as  remote  from 
the  age  of  Horace  as  the  present  time  is  from  that  of 
Dean  Swift:  and  we  are  familiar  with  the  fact  that 
many  statements  confidently  made  by  well-informed 
authors  respecting  that  eminent  character  have  been 
already  disputed  or  disproved.  Indeed,  even  the  iden- 
tity oiihQbirth-placeoiXhe  most  celebrated  of  British 
Generals — the  illustrious  Duke  of  Wellington — who 
happily  still  lives  to  receive  new  and  unprecedented 
honours — might  for  ever  have  remained  a  topic  of 
dispute  had  not  the  writer  of  these  pages  discovered 
the  fact  accidentally,  and  published  the  evidence. 

It  would  be  a  strange  assumption  to  suppose  any 
reader,  whose  feeling  of  interest  has  led  him  thus 
far  in  a  disputation  of  this  nature,  to  be  ignorant  of 
the  vast  dignity  and  responsibility  attaching  to  the 
office  of  a  Roman  Military  Tribune.  Every  scholar 
knows  that  the  command-in-chief  of  a  Roman  legion 
was  shared  by  six  officers  so  designated ;  and  that 
a  Roman  legion  on  field  service  mustered  ordina- 


rily, exclusive  of  the  auxiliary  contingent,  which 
was  commanded  directly  by  its  own  Pr^efecti,  a 
force  amounting  to  not  less  than  from  4500  to  5000 
men.   Their  authority  is,  of  course,  to  be  understood 
as  consisting  strictly  in  regimental  command ;  for  a 
Consul,  Prajtor,  Legatus,  or  Prsefectus  castrorum, 
would  be  senior  in  general  command.    But  as  very 
general  terms  of  this  class  have  a  tendency  to  be  ta- 
ken in  some  large  indefinite  sense,  without  much 
regard  being  paid  to  the  complex  instituted  relations 
which  their  signification  may  include,  and  as  a  corres- 
ponding vagueness  is  likely  to  affect  their  applica- 
tion, many  persons  may  have  a  very  imperfect  notion 
of  what  functions  they  actually  suppose  to  have  de- 
volved upon  Horace  when  they  assert  such  an  im- 
portant fact  in  his  biography,  as  that  he  discharged 
the  above  distinguished  and  onerous  trust. 

If  the  entire  nature  of  that  office  was  as  instanced 
in  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Antiquities,  and  in  Riddle's 
Etymological  Dictionary,  the  present  question  would 
not  be  worth  discussion.    The  following  is  their  ac- 
count :— "  Their  duties  consisted  in  keeping  order 
among  the  soldiers  in  the  camp,  in  superintending 
their  military  exercises,  inspecting  outposts  and  sen- 
tinels, procuring  provisions,  settling  disputes  among 
soldiers,   superintending  their  health,    &c."— This 
statement  would  imply  that  they  differed  little  from 
commissaries  or  quarter-masters.      The  sequel  will 
show  that  the  "  &c. "  here  includes  the  real  sub- 
stance of  the  authority  belonging  to  this  most  m- 

c 


iii^i 


34 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ME^IOIR. 


THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  DEAD. 


35 


fluential  department;  and  that  upon  tlieseofficers  really 
devolved  the  responsibility  of  the  entire  discipline  and 
efficiency  of  the  army,  both  in  the  field  and  in  quarters. 
The  most  varied  and  circumstantial  details  on  this 
subject  will  be  found  in  the  ''Dies  Geniales  "  of  Alex- 
ander ab  Alexandre,  a  work  whose  valuable  infor- 
mation would,  if  equalled  by  the  style,  render  it  justly 
a  standard  book.  The  following  is  a  brief  extract  from 
a  long  chapter — "  a  quibus"  (tribunis,  sciz),  sive  in 
hostes  ducere,  sive  castra  metari,  sive  in  prima  acie  et 
fronte  locari,  aut  in  suhsidiis  poni,  vel  in  stationes  et 
tngilias  ire  convenirety  tesseram  milites petehant  *  *  ♦ 
Milites  quoque^  in  conflictu  prceliorum,  singulos  et 
universos  liortari  et  monere  tribuni  proprium  munus 
erat  *  *  * — veteri  institute  ad  trihunatum  admiiti 
nemo  poterat  nisi  prius  alam  duxisset :  neque  alam 
ducere  nisi  cohorti  prcefuissetJ' — Lib.  vi.  cap.  18. 
One  further  quotation,  from  the  terse  compendium 
of  Vegetius,  will  suffice  for  the  present  purpose  : — 
"  Tanta  autem  servahatur  exercendi  milites  cura,  ut 
non   solum  tribuni  vel  prcepositi  contubernales  sibi 
creditos  sub  oculis  suis  juberent  quotidie  meditari^ 
sed  etiam  ipsi  armorum  arte  perjecti  cceteros  ad  imi- 
tationem   proprio  cohortarentur  exemplo!' — Lib.  ii. 
cap.  12. 

Having  now  before  us  the  substantive  character  and 
dignity  of  a  Roman  Military  Tribune,  let  us  next  ex- 
amine the  personal  pretensions  which  could  have  so 
far  recommended  Horace  to  the  stern  regicide-chief, 
that  he  should  at  one  step  have  been  appointed  by 


him  to  a  joint-command  of  5000  men.  Could  the  fu- 
ture bard  boast  of  science  as  a  tactician? — skill  as  a 
disciplinarian? — enthusiasm  as  a  volunteer? — hero- 
ism as  a  leader? — prowess  as  a  man  ? — or  influence 
as  a  patrician  ?  In  reply  to  each  and  all  of  these 
qualifying  suppositions,  truth  requires  that  an  em- 
phatic negative  be  recorded. 

The  benign  virtue  of  charity,  which  *  covereth 
the  multitude  of  sins'  in  our  neighbour  from  the 
censoriously  magnifying  gaze  of  his  fellow-mortal,  is 
seldom  more  gracefully  exercised  than  when  a  bio- 
graphical tribute   rendered  to  departed  worth   so 
paints  the  foibles  and  feilings  incidental   even  to 
the  best  combination  of  attributes  which  can  con- 
stitute human  character,  that  they  may  exhibit  a 
tinge  borrowed  from  the  brightness  of  the  virtuous 
aggregate,  without  imparting  to  it  a  like  propor- 
tion of  their  own  sombre  hue.     Questionable,  in- 
deed,   would   be  the  taste  which  could  find  any 
relish  in  disturbing  associations  at  once  so  credit- 
able and  so  pleasing  that  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
kindred  feelings  less  frequently  modify  the  strin- 
gent judgments  which  we  are  prone  to  pass  on  the 
living.     It  is,  therefore,  not  intended  here  to  de- 
tract from  the  value  of  arguments  penned  by  va- 
rious able  hands    in   vindication   of  the   physical 
courage  of  Horace,  and  in  extenuation  of  his  own 
admissions  on  this  delicate  subject ;  particularly  in 
the   instance   familiar   to  every  reader,  where  he 
admits  that  at  the  battle  of  Philippi  he  had  acted 

c2 


*v 


36 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIH. 


"  not  well "  (to  use  his  own  words)  in  "  abandoning 
the  shield"  and  betaking  himself  to  "precipitate 
flight "  We  can  permit  Lessing  to  maintain  his  high 
position  among  those  who  hold  that  the  poet  here 
merely  borrows  a  phrase  from  very  similar  incidents 
in  the  lives  of  his  favourite  Greek  prototypes  (as 
recorded  of  Alcaeus  by  Herodotus,  and  of  Archilo- 
chus  by  himself);  a  probable  hypothesis,  but  one 
which  is  liable  to  the  danger  of  proving  too  much; 
for  if  the  poet  copied  these  humbler  associations 
of  thought,  it  may  be  held  by  many  that  a  fair  pro- 
portion of  his  more  spirited  passages  is  due  to 
similar  sources.  Alc^us  was  certainly  a  valorous 
penman.  But  "  thoughts  that  breathe  and  words 
that  burn"  evaporate  occasionally  in  deeds  that 
brand:  and  that  might  brand  in  war  which  would 
even  grace  in  peace. 

The  benefit  of  Wieland's  high-wrought  suppo- 
sition should  not  here  be  withheld.— "  Horace," 
observes  his  enthusiastic  advocate,  '*  could  not  have 
called  up  the  remembrance  of  the  hero  (Brutus),  by 
whom  he  was  beloved,  without  reproaching  himself 
for  having  yielded  to  the  instinct  of  personal  safety 
instead  of  dying  with  him  ;  and,  according  to  my 
feeling,  the  non  bene  is  a  sigh  of  regret,  which  he 
ofiers  to  the  memory  of  that  great  man,  and  an  ex- 
pression of  that  shame,  of  which  a  noble  spirit  alone 
is  capable,"— though  it  may  possibly  be  said  that  such 
voucher  of  "  a  noble  spirit "  can  be  safely  followed 
but  a  very  little  way  in  its  conceivable  results.  We 


VIEWS  OF  LESSING  AND  WIELAND. 


37 


shall  even  invent  a  supposition  in  order  to  cover 
the  formidable  term  paventem  which  Milman  ob- 
jects to  Wieland's  theory,  as  being  an  undoubted  con- 
fession of  the  poef  s  quaking  fears,  in  the  very  next 
stanza  ;  and  shall  imagine  the  expression  to  be 
merely  employed  in  highly  poetic  treatment  of  the 
feelings  natural  to  a  first  aerial  voyage,  though  un- 
dertaken even  with  the  pilotage  of 'Mercury,'  as  he 
elsewhere  applies  the  same  epithet  to  the  young 
eagle  in  its  earlier  flights — "  Insolitos  docuere  nisus 
venti  paventemJ' — Carm.  iv.  4,  8-9.  The  most  ela- 
borate defence,  however,  can  amount  merely  to  this: 
that  Horace  did  not  yield  to  any  extraordinary  in- 
dividual panic :  that  he  fled  in  company. 

But,  waving  arguments  which  rest  on  results  and 
the  contingencies  of  battle,  reflection  employed  about 
the  7'eal  original  facts  of  the  case  seems  sufficient 
beforehand  to  incumber  the  supposition  of  Horace's 
appointment  to  such  high  military  command  with 
considerably  greater  difficulties  than  could  possibly 
attach  to  an  ironical  interpretation  of  the  given  pas- 
sage; in  fact,  to  represent  such  an  arrangement  on  the 
part  of  Brutus  as  perhaps  the  most  strange  and,  un- 
der the  circumstances,  the  most  unlikely  act  which 
has  ever  been  received  as  true  by  general  consent 
respecting  any  man  of  like  character.  Milman,  in- 
deed, in  the  following  passage,  seems  strongly  im- 
pressed with  the  force  of  the  anomaly,  which  yet 
assumes  a  gloss  as  smooth  as  though  caught  from  the 
association   of  pictorial   embellishment. — "Horace 


38 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


BATTLE-ARRAY  AT  PHILIPPI. 


39 


was  at  once  advanced  to  the  rank  of  military  tribune 
and  the  command  of  a  legion.     Excepting  at  such 
critical  periods,"  proceeds  the  learned  apologist  of  a 
rather  intractable  datum,  "  when  the  ordinary  course 
of  military  promotion  was  superseded  by  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  times,  when  it  was  no  doubt  difficult 
for  Brutus  to  find  Roman   officers  for  his  newly- 
raised  troops,  the  son  of  a  freedman,  of  no  very 
robust  frame,  and  altogether  inexperienced  in  war, 
would    not  have  acquired    that  rank."— It   might 
really  be  supposed  from  this  that  Brutus,  while  at 
Athens,  was  engaged  in  organizing  some   rabble 
rout  to  which  the  accession  of  an  educated  Roman 
youth  was  of  such  vast  importance  that  the  high- 
est battalion-command  would  be  the  immediate  re- 
ward, however  ridiculously  palpable  might  be  the 
party's  incapacity  ;  that  "  his  newly-raised  troops" 
were  undisciplined,  raw  levies,  and  not,  as  they  were 
for  the  most  part,  the  tried  and  hardy  veterans  who 
had  fought  and  bled  under  the  banners  of  Julius 
Caesar,  as  also  of  Pompey,  in  Gaul,  in  Asia,  in  Egypt, 
and  at  Pharsalia;  and  tliat  the  result  of  the  battle  of 
Philippi  was  a  natural   consequence  of  originally 
feeble  and  disorderly  tactics,  instead  of  being,  as 
Niebuhr  demonstrates,  the  fruit  of  pure  accident 
partly  unforeseen,  partly  unimproved. 

But  let  us  rear  facts,  instead  of  nursing  fancies. 
The  great  Historian  of  Bonn  thus  testifies  of  the 
army  and  its  character,  the  battle  and  its  antece- 
dent prospects  :   ''  Nearly  all  the  Bomans  of  rank 


and  wealth  were  in  the  armies  of  Brutus  and  Cassius; 
for  the  most  distinguished  persons  had  been  pro- 
scribed, and  the  greater  number  of  these  had  taken 

refuge  with  Brutus  and  Cassius Brutus, 

who  faced  the  army  of  Octavian,  gained  a  victory 

without  any  difficulty Had  Brutus  known 

that  his  fleet  had  gained  a  complete  victory  on  the 
same  day  on  which  the  first  battle  of  Philii^pi  was 
fought,  ...  by  making  the  fleet  land  in  the  re  re  of 
the  hostile  armies,  he  loould  have  compelled  them  to 
retreat!' — Lect.  ll  Indeed  a  finer  army  of  100,000 
men  was  rarely  marshalled  under  the  Roman  eagles 
than  Brutus  led  almost  to  victory  at  Philippi. 

Nor  does  it  appear  from  the  statements  of  the 
Greek  historians  who  have  specifically  exhibited 
the  various  phases  of  the  civil  war  then  raging,  that 
Brutus,  from  the  first  moment  when  he  openly 
unfurled  the  republican  banner,  laboured  under  any 
deficiency  of  officers,  men,  money,  munitions,  or 
sanction  of  authority  from  home.  The  learned  reader 
shall  not  require  to  be  reminded  here  that  Roman 
history,  properly  so  called,  closed  with  the  last  page 
indited  by  the  immortal  Livy;  and  that  the  latest  of 
his  extant  books  reaches  no  farther  than  to  about 
127  years  before  the  period  to  which  we  now  refer. 
For  further  authentic  information  we  have  fortu- 
nately access  to  the  works  of  Greek  writers  who 
adopted  Roman  subjects,  particularly  Plutarch, 
Appian,  and  Dion  Cassius,  who  supply  the  inter- 
val, both  in  time  and  scope,  between  the  volumi- 


40 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


Horace's  actual  connexion  with  brutus?  41 


nous  researches  of  Livy  and  the  cursory  compila- 
tions of  Florus,  Orosius,  Eutropius,  &c.  Greek  ex- 
tracts, therefore,  are  not  only  not  far-fetched,  but,  to 
a  certain  extent,  are  here  unavoidable.  The  follow- 
ing is  Appian's  train  of  thought  upon  the  might  and 
majesty  of  the  array  at  Philippi. — "  OZrw  ^ev  8r/  Kal- 
aapt  re  /cat  Aptcdvlo)^  ha  roX/irj^  t7riG(t)aXov9  kol  hvoiu 
'jre^ofiaxtaiv  TrjKiKOvrov  epyou  yi/varOj  oiou  ov\  erepou 
eyevero  irpo  tKetuov^  ovre  yap  (nparo^  toctouto?  y  roiov- 
T09  t?  X^^P^^  TTporepop  y\Oe  Fw/mai'wv  kfcaTepwOeu'  ov^ 
\mo  avvra^ei  ttoXitikij  arparevaanevwv  aXKa  apiffTtp^e 
iTTiXeXey/jLevwp'  ovh^  d7reip07ro\e/j,wv  cri,  dW'  Ik  ttoWov 
yeyvfxvaafjiivwv'  Kal  (oi/Te9)  aaKtjaew^  /cat  Kaprepias^  o/xot- 
a?  IvaKaraywviaroi  Trap  avro  yaav  oKKifKoi^'  ovre  6p/ifj 
Kal   ToX/jLTf   Toafjhi   rive^   e^^j/aai/ro   lu  7ro\e/j,(v" — De 

Bell.  Civ.  IV.  137.  Indeed  the  supplies  which 
poured  in  to  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  consequence  of  a 
formal  decree  of  the  Roman  Senate,  passed  in  the  very 
year  in  which  Horace  is  chronicled  as  having  joined 
the  former,  would  far  exceed  the  limit  of  quotation. 
Suffice  it  to  quote  from  Appian  the  substance  of  this 
remarkable  decree-of-Senate. — ''  Kal  y  ^ovXy  eyjrrf- 
(f)i^€TO  MaA-ecoi/iu?  Kal  T//9  IWupt^o^  avr?]^,  Kal  twv  Iv 
afi(f>oT€poi^  VTToXoiTTwu  GTpaTwv  '^IcLpKOv  BpovToi/  apyeiv, 
tieyjpi  KaTatnahj  ra  koivol  .  .  .  Torn  re  uXXov?  oaoi  rivef 
iBvov^  y  (TTparov  FwjuLaiwv  ap^ovai  airo  rij^  lopiov  OaXda- 
<Ty?  em  rt]v  ew  iravra^  v-naKOveiv  t?  o,  ri  Trpoardaaoi  Kda- 

C109 1}  Bpovros\' — Cap.  63.  Plutarch  and  Dion  Cassius 
will  be  found  to  support  all  this:  to  multiply  quo- 
tations is  needless. 


But  were  Brutus  as  weak  as  he  was  strong  both 
in  power  and  in  hope,  what  "exigencies"  of  any  times 
could  be  met  by  taking  a  poor,  lowly-born,  book-worn 
(as  he  describes  himself)  student  of  twenty-two  years 
of  ac^e,  as  abhorrent  from  military  tastes,  as  he  was 
ignorant  and  ill-favoured  as  to  military  requirements, 
one,  besides,  dragged  most  reluctantly  into  the  ser- 
vice, though  perhaps  called  a  '  volunteer,' — and  ap- 
pointing him,  "at  once,"  to  drill  and  lead  into  action 
5000  men,  the  one-twentieth  of  the  whole  army?  Did 
the  wildest  revolution  ever  yet  throw  an  unknown 
man  so  prominently  to  the  surface  of  events,  without 
some  kind  of  inclination,  profession,  or  pretension  on 
his  part,  were  it  merely  an  aflfectation  or  conceit,  in 
the  given  department,  much  less  in  diametric  opposi- 
tion to  his  own  feelings  and  efforts?  It  seems,  indeed, 
certain,  that  Horace  was  drawn,  along  with  the  other 
Roman  youths,  into  the  society  and  train  of  Brutus; 
and  it  is  conceivable  that,  having  the  use  of  limb  and 
thought,  he  might  have  served  well  enough  as  a  per- 
sonal attache  of  some  kind,  in  the  way  of  writing  to 
dictation,  receiving  and  transmitting  reports,  bearing 
orders  to  officers  in  command,  &c.,  &c.,  as  is  often 
the  business  of  '  volunteers,'  where  they  are  trusted. 
But  to  suppose  him  as  a  military  commandant  of 
brigade  upon  the  battle-field,  contriving  and  effecting 
strategic  combinations,  seems  fairly  akin  either  to 
non-examination  of  the  subject,  or  to  establishment 
of  a  case  singularly  and  unnecessarily  exceptional  even 
among  the  extraordinary  possibilities  of  human  life. 


• 


42 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


Nor  let  it  be  forgotten,  that  the  auxiliary  contingent 
was  ordinarily  almost  equal  in  force  to  the  legion 
itself,  and  that  its  officers  were  junior  in  rank  and 
powers  of  command  to  the  Roman  legionary  officers. 
But  it  must  not  be  concealed  that  the  brilliant 
pencil  of  the  latest  illustrator  would  bring  out  in 
glowing  tints  a  very  patriot-knight-errant,  on  the 
same  ground  where  we  have  chalked  a  rather  unim- 
posing  squire.  Thus  paints  Milman : — "  In  his  youth 
he  (Horace)  plunges  into  the  fierce  and  sanguinary 
civil  war  ;  and  afterwards,  subsiding  quietly  into 
literary  ease,  the  partisan  of  Brutus  softens  into  the 
friend  of  Maecenas."  A  pretty  picture,  and  worthy 
of  being  framed  and  glazed  in  an  illuminated  page. 
Immediately  afterwards  we  have  the  following  sun- 
burst of  imagination,  in  the  gleam  of  which  crowns 
and  sceptres  are  presented  in  a  subdued  light  to  po- 
pular eyes  :—''  It  had  been  surprising  if  the  whole 
Roman  youth,  at  this  ardent  and  generous  period  of 
life,  breathing  the  air  of  Pericles,  Aristides,  and  De- 
mosthenes, imbibing  the  sentiments  of  republican  li- 
berty from  all  which  was  the  object  of  their  study, 
had  not  thrown  themselves  at  once  into  the  ranks  of 
Brutus,  and  rallied  around  the  rescued,  but  still  im- 
perilled freedom  of  Rome."  Now  it  maybe  not  at  all 
"  surprising"  to  manypersons,  that  there  should  have 
been  among  the  "ardent  and  generous"  young  aristo- 
crats, several  who  might  deem  an  act  of  covert  trea- 
chery and  dark  assassination  to  be  as  morally  disgrace- 
ful and  infamous,  even  in  vindication  of  "rescued 


REPUBLICAN  CONSTITUTIONS. 


43 


freedom,"  as  an  enlightened  Christian  writer  could 
possibly  conceive  the  murder  of  Julius  Caesar  to  have 
been;  and  as  Milman  no  doubt  would  be  found  really 
to  regard  it,  however  apparently  strong  may  be  his 
implied  panegyric  upon  Brutus. 

Nor  are  the  advantages  of  "  republican  liberty,"  as 
exemplified  in  the  history  of  Athenian  polity,  so  intui- 
tively perceptible,  that  "  the  whole  Roman  youth," 
or  any  other  youth,  should  be  necessarily  captivated 
as  one  man  by  all  the  associations  which  the  chief 
scene  of  its  action  would  be  fitted  to  recall.  It  seems 
fully  as  conceivable,  that  many  might  believe  "  the 
air  of  Pericles,  Aristides,  and  Themistocles"  to  have 
been  a  rather  free  conductor  of  sound;  and  that  much 
talk  and  little  action  was  a  prevailing  characteristic 
of  the  gigantic  assemblages  of  newsmongering  citi- 
zens whom  the  h-KXyala  habitually  diverted  from  in- 
dustrial pursuits.  To  many  the  ultimate  downfall 
of  the  glory  of  Athens  might  seem  ascribable  to  the 
universal  dissipation  of  energy,  the  vanity,  wrang- 
ling, and  insubordination  which  her  greatest  sons, 
whether  poets, philosophers,  orators,  or  generals, have 
lamented  s,s  facts,  and  which  7mghthe  further  regard- 
ed by  others  as  results  of  her  political  system.  Such 
reasoners  would  be  likely  for  "  republican  liberty"  to 
read  *  democratic  license'  on  the  sombre  page  which 
chronicles  the  circumstances  of  her  decline  and  fall; 
and  to  imagine  that  even  the  lights  with  which  she 
gilded  the  previously  dark  atmosphere  of  Grecian 
literature  and  science,  might  have  shone  as  briglitly. 


44 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


and  with  greater  stability  and  diffusiveness,  under 
the  national  protection  of  a  more  concentrated  power 
of  executive  government. 

Now  the  Romans  were  essentially  a  practical  and 
calculating  people.  A  comparison  of  the  principles 
and  fruits  of  the  Athenian  republican  constitution, 
with  those  of  their  own  past  ''  freedom,"  would  have 
formed  a  probable  and  profitable  study  in  intellectual 
circles  at  this  period.  Tlidr  "republican  liberty"  had 
long  since  become  a  mere  by- word  with  rival  factions, 
having  endured,  in  its  integrity,  just  until  the  extent 
and  individuality  of  Roman  dominion  became  suffi- 
ciently defined  to  tempt  the  monarchical  aspirings  of 
bold  and  able  statesmen.  The  question — How  far  was 
the  inabiUtjj  of  Athens  to  resist  aggressionfrom  with- 
out^ and  of  Rome  to  withstand  faction  from  within^ 
ascribahle  to  a  republican  form  of  government  f — 
might  conceivably  have  divided  a  society  composed 
of  "  the  whole  Roman  youth"  studying  at  Athens. 
The  issue  of  another  discussion  also —  Whether  is  a 
monarchical  constitution  more  likely^  from  the  na- 
ture of  ma7?,  to  lead  to  the  excessive  despotism  of 
one,  or  **  repullican  libertif'  to  the  antagonistic  ty- 
ranny of  many  f — might  not  have  been  unanimous. 
Nor  might  the  possibility  of  combining  the  monar- 
chic, aristocratic,  and  popular  elements  in  an  ap- 
proximately harmonious  whole  have  appeared  to  all 
so  hopeless  as  that  of  permanently  equalizing  the 
civil  condition  of  men,  who  are  all  by  natiure,  intellec- 
tually, morally,  and  physically  unequal  to  each  other. 


THE  poet's  notes  OF  FACT  AND  FEELING.    45 

But  however  this  may  be,  the  alacrity  of  Horace's 
t'  rally'' — the  vigour  of  his  ''plunge'' — was  anything 
but  calisthenic,  if  he  may  be  allowed  to  know  his 
own  mind,  and  to  tell  his  own  unvarnished  tale. 
In  the  epistle  in  which  he  says  of  himself,  with  all 
the  amiable  simplicity  of  a  truly  candid  mind,  "  The 
cast  of  character  which  (in  youth)  selected  for  its 
exercise  uncrowded  Athens,  bestowed  seven  years 
on  study,  and  waxed  (prematurely)  old  mid  books 
and  cares,  goes  forth  more  silent  than  a  statue  for 
the  most  part,  and  convulses  the  populace  with 
laughter," — he  observes  naively  of  Athens, — "  But 
hard  times  forced  me  from  that  sweet  retreat,  and  the 
tide  of  civil  strife  bore  me,  wholly  untutored  in  arms, 
into  war,"  ^-c— Epist.  ii.  2,  46-7,  81-4. 

Upon  the  preceding  passages  an  interesting  col- 
lateral question  may  further  arise:— Are  the  biogra- 
phers right  in  stating  that  Horace  repaired  to  Athens 
for  the  purpose  of  completing  his  education  according 
to  the  fashionable  curriculum  of  the  day?  It  seems 
hardly  natural  that  a  youth  of  recluse  and  retiring 
habits,  whose  father  was  "macro  pauper  agello,"  and 
who  had  been  accustomed  in  his  boyhood  to  look  on 
the  young  sons  of  the  rustic  burgomasters  as  "■  magni 
pueri,  magnis  centurionibus  orti"  (though  he  must 
needs  be  supposed,  in  a  very  few  years  afterwards, 
to  have  had  personal  command  over  sixty  centu- 
rions !)  should  have  contemplated  to  maintain,  on  his 
return,  a  rank  corresponding  with  an  education  which, 
relatively  to  Roman  society,  would  be  suitable  only  to 


46 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


the  possessor  of  ample  means.     Now  when  we  con- 
sider that  the  fond  pride  of  an  indulgent  father  had 
extended  his  educational  course  greatly  beyond  his 
own  sphere  in  life;  that  when  his  mainstay  was 
withdrawn,  he  must  have  felt  such  a  course  of  train- 
ing to  be,  after  all,  but  little  adapted  to  the  rough 
and  up-hill  walks  of  humble  life,  and  his  adventi- 
tious school-intimacy  with  the  ''  sons  of  knights  and 
senators"  to  be  fast  vanishing  before  the  conven- 
tional realities  of  maturing  years;  that  the  expres- 
sion desumpsit  sibi  seems  to  imply  that  Horace  was 
then^  in  popular  phrase,  'his  own  master,^  in  other 
words,  that  the  parent  who  had  guided  his  boyish 
steps  was  then  no  more, — (for  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  a  son,  who  was  so  ready  to  pay  tribute  of 
respect  and  gratitude  to  the  memory  of  his  father, 
would  have  omitted  to   associate   his  name  with 
such  a  remarkable  occurrence  in  the  affairs  of  both, 
as  that  of  the  necessarily  expensive,  indeed  it  may 
be  said  extravagant,  arrangement  of  his  being  sent 
to  Athens  to  "  finish "  his  Roman  education,  had 
that  parent  lived  to  witness,  and  to  assist  with  his 
means  and  counsel,  such  an  undertaking)  ; — shall  it 
not  seem  a  more  probable  theory  that  Horace,  having 
imbibed  enough  of  literature  at  home  to  induce  a 
thirst  for  deeper  fountains,  should  have  resolved  to 
abandon /(?r  ever  the  worldly  tumult  of  promiscuous 
Eome,  and  live  upon  the  proceeds  of  his  little  patri- 
mony in  the  studious  retirement  of  "  uncrovvded 
Athens"?  Does  not  the  expression rf^^^/w?/?^//  sibi  seem 


i 


)    . 


REAL  ATTRACTION  OF  ATHENS  ? 


47 


indicative  rather  of  a  deliberate  choice,  peculiar  to 
himself,  than  of  a  fanciful  compliance  wdth  the  ha- 
bits of  others  ?  Is  not  the  term  emovere  strikingly 
applicable  to  the  disturbance  of  fixed  and  rooted 
habits  of  local  association  or  attachment?  In  this 
view  it  was  no  spirit  of  fashionable  rivalry,  no  vision- 
ary aspiring  to  foreign  patents  of  precedence  in  learn- 
ing, which  dictated  the  removal  of  our  future  poet 
to  a  land  (as  he  would  say  himself)  "  glowing  be- 
neath a  stranger  sun,"  but  that  feeling  which  was  the 
master-principle  of  his  life,  the  mainspring  of  his 
social  existence — the  love  of  personal  independence, 
freedom,  and  literary  ease. 

Further,  the  aggregate  of  those  dispositions  which 
mark  his  entire  course  and  character  (and  which, 
it  may  be  observed,  assimilate  his  mental  constitution 
and  its  developments,  more  closely  to  those  of  the 
Scottish  poet,  Robert  Burns, — the  unartificial  bard, 
the  unsophisticated  philosopher, — than  to  the  feel- 
ings and  expressions  of,  perhaps,  any  poet  who  has 
lived  since  Horace  first  touched  the  Roman  lyre),  is 
happily  enumerated  in  the  following  passage  of  that 
familiar  poetic  epistle  in  which  he  discriminates  so 
tastefully  the  differences  existing  between  the  cour- 
tier and  the  sycophant,  the  flatterer  and  the  friend. 

**  Sit  mihi  quod  nunc  est,  etiam  minus ;  et  mlhi  vivam 
Quod  supercst  aavi ;  si  quid  supercssc  volunt  Di. 
Sit  bona  librorum  et  provlsai  frugis  in  annum 
Copia ;  neu  fluitcm  dubiai  spe  pendulus  horaj." — 

Epis.  xviii.  107-110. 


w 


» 


48 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


This  passage,  taken  in  connexion  with  another  in 
the  eleventh  epistle,  where  he  confesses  his  indiffer- 
ence to  locality  as  compared  with  contentment  and 
ease, — "I  would  fain  live  at  (the  most  sequestered  of 
Asiatic  places  specified)  Lebedus, — oblitusque  meo- 
rum,  obliviscendus  et  illis," — exactly  expresses  that 
temper  of  mind  which  would  prompt  a  person  of  an 
uncontentious  but  buoyant  spirit  to  bid  farewell  for 
ever  to  a  scene  of  strife,  bustle,  and  competition,  such 
as  a  city  like  Rome  must  have  presented  to  Horace, 
when  he  '  became  a  man'  and  *  put  away  childish 
things.'  And  had  not  'wild  war's  blast'  swept  the 
groves  of  Academus,  most  probably  the  unambitious 
philosopher  would  have  pursued  his  noiseless  "search 
for  truth"  (as  he  expresses  it)  amid  their  luxuriant 
dells,  even  with  the  waning  light  of  life's  setting  sun, 
and  the  stray  flower  of  Ilissus'  or  Cephisus'  vale 
would  alone  have  decked  his  nameless  grave.  The 
feeling,  however,  which  once  more  (happily  for  Latin 
literature)  attracted  him  towards  the  scene  of  early 
associations,  when  his  fortunes  were  wrecked  upon 
a  foreign  rock,  and  when  the  haughty  bearing  of 
Rome  towards  her  own  sons  might  appear  to  be  love 
itself  in  comparison  with  the  cold  austerity  which  a 
desolate  and  now  penniless  stranger-outcast  might 
experience,  even  in  a  school  of  exalted  theories  of 
hospitality  and  generosity,  is  equally  conceivable. 

To  return  from  this  digression.  It  will  be  rea- 
dily conceded  by  all  his  readers  that  our  poet-philoso- 


I 


PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS. 


49 


pher  acts  no  hypocritic  part  by  consistent  exhibi- 
tion, in  his  writings,  of  an  unwarlike  temperament. 
Independently  of  his  charming  honesty  of  disposition, 
he  knew  human  nature  too  well  to  suppose  that  he 
could  effectually  ingratiate  himself  with  the  imperial 
party,  or  with  political  opponents,  by  thus  demean- 
ing himself     And  in  whatever  phases  we  view  his 
unstudied  ebullitions  of  genuine,  artless  character, — 
whether  we  regard  the  deep  horror  of  war,  and  es- 
pecially of  civil  war,  which  pervades  his  works;  the 
undisguised  timidity  of  his  nature,  particularly  as 
evidenced  in  the  first  Epode,  and  by  his  reiterated, 
and  even  splenetic  allusion  to  accidents  of  personal 
danger;  his  pertinacious  declining  of  military  themes, 
notwithstanding  influential  expostulation,  and  that 
evidently  not  from  want  of  fire  of  imagination^  but 
from  an  inertness  in  combating  natural  distastes  ; 
his  omission  of  all  allusion  to  any  juvenile  ambition 
for  military  fame,  in  the  plaintive  passage  where  he 
enumerates  the  several  encroachments  which  years 
in  their  onward  course  had  made  upon  his  youthful 
feelings,  Ep.    n.  2,  55-7  ;  the  unchivalrous  tame- 
ness  which  is  palpably  observable  in  his  famous 
triumphal  ode  (Carm.  l  37)  on  the  issue  of  the 
battle  of  Actium,  in  which  felicitation  at  a  general 
escape  from  danger,  and  a  satisfied  gaze  upon  his 
life-like  drawing  of  the  flight  and  fall  of  the  haughty 
and  hapless  Egyptian  Queen,  are  the  leading  fea- 
tures, (and  nearly  similar  is  the  Epode,  w^hich  com- 
memorates the  Sicilian  and  Actian  victories  con- 


l\ 


D 


50 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


FACT  LESS  STUBBORN  THAN  FICTION. 


51 


I 


i\ 


jointly,  whose  tone  reaches  its  climax  in  the  com- 
fortable reflection — "  Curam  metumque  Caesaris  re- 
rum  juvat  dulci  Lyaso  solvere." — Ep.  ix.  37-8)  ; 
his  hearty  raillery  of  a  friend  who   really  aspired 
to    emerge    from    philosophic  shade  into  military 
glare,  though  he  had  "promised  better,"  (Carm.  l 
29);  his  constitutional  and  fervent  devotion  to  do- 
mestic scenes  and  rural  enjoyments,  to  quote  the 
instances  of  which  would  be  to  transcribe  nearly 
two-thirds  of  his  whole  compositions  ;  his  good-hu- 
moured smiles  at  personal  defects  in  himself,  which 
in  a  military  commander  would  amount  to  positive 
disabilities ; — to  whichsoever  of  these  spontaneous 
evidences  of  mental  bias  we  turn  our  view,  the  sup- 
position of  his  having  ever  pretended  to  or  obtained 
command  over  a  large  integral  section  of  a  highly 
disciplined  army  seems  a  satire  on  the  sobriety  of 
fact  adapted  only  to  the  fancy-sketch  of  the   hu- 
mourist or  caricaturist.     It  is  an  apposite  circum- 
stance here  that  his  writings  aflbrd  a  case  in  pointy 
and  supply  us  with  a  picture  of  his  feelings  on  actu- 
xAly  offering  to  accompany  a  patron  '  to  the  wars* 
(First  Epode):  on  which  occasion  (instead  of  plac- 
ing at  Maecenas's  disposal  some  fruits  of  military 
experience,   as  a  man  who  had  seen  service  pro- 
perly so  called  would  he  likely  to  do),  he   offers 
himself  exactly  in  that  indefinite  volunteer  capacity  of 
a  personal  attache  which  we  have  supposed  him  to 
have  previously  filled  with  Brutus.     The  weight  of 
this  instance  will  be  little  diminished  by  proper 
allowance  for  the  declension  of  youthful  feelings, 


r 


and  the  probability  that  he  may  not  in  the  previous 
case  have  illustrated  his  weakness  and  his  fears  for  a 
friend  by  an  image  borrowed  from  'the  bird  and  Irood' 
And  surely  no  one  can  imagine  that  we  presume 
here  to  clip  the   margin  of  a  single    leaf  which 
decks  the  laurelled  brow  of  the  great  poet-philo- 
sopher.    But  false  praise  is  worse  than  true  blame  : 
and  none  would  protest  more  strongly   than   the 
gifted  bard  of  Venusia  himself  against  being  *  ar- 
rayed in  borrowed  plumes,'  even  although  nothing 
of  the  grotesque  were  thereby  imparted  to  his  figure. 
The  present  view  of  the  subject  will  admit  of  full 
credit  being  accorded  to  Milman's  statement : — "  He 
acquired  the  confidence  of  his  commanders,"(the  wri- 
ter either  means,  or  might  well  mean  here,  'friendly 
confidence'),  '*and,  unless  he  has  highly  coloured 
his  hard  service,  was  engaged  in  some  difl[iculties 
and  perils." — Of  course  he  was  :  and  so  was  every 
camp-follower  of  the  army.    Horace  never  *'  colours" 
facts  egotistically  ;    and  his  own  statement  is  the 
best  which  can  be  made  for  him  : — "  Me  prim  is  urbis 
belli  placuisse  domique."— Epis.  i.  20.    But  as  domi 
cannot  here  mean  '  household  relations,'  so  belli  may 
be  equally  far  from  implying  *  field  service.'     Bella 
would  be  the  form  in  which  to  convey  a  manner  of 
action.     Belli  merely  lays  the  scene  in  a  campaign,  as 
domi  does  in  civil  society.     And  no  doubt  both 
camp  and  court  were  alike  "pleased"  and  adorned 
by  his  amiable  manners,  unaffected  truthfulness,  va- 
ried information,  and  companionable  bonhommie^ 

d2 


^ 


52 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


But  an  apparently  formidable  objection  remains  to 
be  disposed  of.     It  will  be  said,  '  Niebuhr's  account 
is  adverse  to  this  theory.'     This  is  a  serious  demur ; 
if  we  are  sure  that  we  have  Niebuhr's  account,  and 
that  it  is  of  the  same  character  with  the  generality 
of  the  statements  hnown  to  be  made  by  that  pro- 
found and   enlightened  historian.      In  connexion 
with  the  fortunes  of  the  scattered  components  of 
the  army  of  Brutus  after  the  battle  of  Philippi,  Nie- 
buhr  is  said  to  state  :— "  Many  also  returned  to  Italy 
in  secret,  as  for  example  Horace  the  poet  who  had 
been  among  the  volunteers  in  the  army  of  Brutus. 
He  had  been  staying  at  Athens,  like  many  other 
young  Romans,  for  the  purpose  of  studying,  and 
Brutus  had  received  those  young  men,  as  volunteers, 
into  his  army,  and  appoiiited  them  tribunes:'— Lee.  li. 
What!    All  the  unformed  Roman  striplings    who 
thronged  the  benches  of  the  Athenian  schools  placed 
at  once,  by  sixes,  at  the  head  of  regular  (for  such 
they  were)  Roman  legions,  composed  almost  exclu- 
sively (see  above)  of  veteran  soldiers !   Out  of  the  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  tribuneships  of  those  regular 
troops,  who  flocked  to  Brutus  notviritim  but  kgionatim, 
how  many  in  this  case  could  have  remained  or  become 
open  to  officers  of  respectable  service-qualification  ? 
Are  the  above  really  the  words  of  the  great  discrimi- 
nator between  fact  and  faction  ?— or  is  this  an  appli- 
cation to  the  affairs  of  life  of  the  legendary  fable  of 
Minerva  issuing  in  panoply  from  the  intellectual  de- 
velopments of  Jupiter  ?     Seriously,  the  story  seems 


TESTIMONY  OF  PLUTARCH. 


53 


as  though  Niebuhr  had  simply  multiplied  the  sup- 
posed statement  of  Horace  respecting  himself  by  the 
whole  number  of  Roman  students  sojournifig  at  Athens, 
But  perhaps  much  of  the  argument  which  we  have 
just  examined,  as  applied  to  the  probabilities  in  Ho- 
race's instance,  would  better  admit  of  that  process. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  on  what  authority  Nie- 
buhr could  have  relied.  Plutarch  seems  to  be  the 
only  original  historian  who  is  specific  in  the  details 
of  these  incidents.  No  subsequent  writer  appears 
either  directly  or  inferentially  to  impugn  his  plain 
narrative  of  them.  And  he  assuredly  relates  the 
natural  incident  of  Brutus's  cultivation  of  the  inti- 
macy of  the  Roman  youth  in  terms  which  would 
imply  the  very  reverse  of  his  intrusting  them  indiscri- 
minately with  high  command  ;  for  the  son  of  Cicero, 
who  had  served  before,  and  particularly  at  the  battle 
of  Pharsalia,  as  a  cavalry  officer,  with  much  credit, 
is  the  only  one  who  is  specified  as  having  attracted 
his  particular  admiration.  The  following  are  the 
words  of  Plutarch  :  — "  Kal  yap  etV  MaKehoi/tav  e-nefi^ev 
^WpoGTpaTov^  oiKeiovfjiei/o?  Toy?  IttI  twv  eh'et  arparoTre- 
hwy,  Kol  TOV9  (T^oXa^oj/Ta?  utto  Fw/ultj^  Iv  aaret  j/eoy? 
aveXajji^avev  koI  avueL^ei/.  wv  yv  kol  KiKepiovoi  vio^ 
ov  tTraivel  liaifyepovTw^^'  &C. — Life  of  BrutuS. 

We  cannot  here  avoid  glancing  at  the  circum- 
stances in  which  these  lectures  of  Niebuhr  come 
I  before  us.  His  very  able  translator,  Dr.  Schmitz, 
'thus  ingenuously  admits  his  apprehensions  as  to  the 
possibility  of  editing  Niebuhr's  unwritten  lectures 


54 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


CONJOINED  DEDUCTIONS. 


55 


authentically  : — **  This  apprehension  arises  from  the 
condition  of  the  notes,  which  were  taken  down  by 
his  pupils  in  the  lecture-room,  and  which  are  the 
only  materials  out  of  which  the  lectures  can  be  re- 
constructed, for  Niebuhr  himself  never  wrote  them 
down.     The   difficulty  of  casting  these  confused, 
fragmentary,  and  sometimes  unintelligible  notes  into 
a  proper  and  intelligible  form  is,  indeed,  so  great, 
that  this  would  be  of  itself  sufficient  to  deter  any  one 
from  undertaking  a  task  which  is  far  more  irksome 
than  that  of  producing  an  original  work ;  and  which, 
when  accomplished,  must  of  necessity  fall  short  of 
what  it  might  be."— So  that,  after  all,  this  more 
than  disputable  assertion  may  not  be  Niebuhr's  state- 
ment. Nor  can  it  with  justice  be  said  that  we  would 
receive  the  authority  of  these  lectures  where  they 
favour  a  certain  theory,  but  would  reject  it  where 
they  appear  adverse  ;  because  whatever  allowance  is 
due  to  the  circumstances  so  candidly  avowed  by  Dr. 
Schmitz  must,  in  all  fairness,  be  taken  into  account 
where  a  statement  is  attributed  to  the  lecturer,  which . 
is  believed,  by  the  party  who  doubts  the  authenticity 
of  the  passage,  to  be  not  only  unsupported  by  any 
authority,  but  inconsistent  with  the  moral  possibili- 
ties of  conventional  affairs. 

In  fine,  let  it  be  distinctly  borne  in  mind  that  the 
organization  of  the  army  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  was 
regularly  executed  under  senatorial  warrant,  while 
the  triumvirate  confederacy  was  a  self-constituted 
league,  deriving  a  colourable  sanction  partly  from 


i 


prevalent  attachment  to  the  memory  of  Csesar,  partly 
from  the  startling  lawlessness  of  the  deed  which  it 
proposed  to  avenge,  but  dating  its  authority  solely 
from  the  victory  at  Philippi ;  that  the  former  were, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  Government  forces  ; 
and  that  their   organization  would  be  more  pro- 
perly described  as  a  concentration  of  existing  batta- 
lions and  brigades  (all  desertions  from  whose  ranks 
would  be  probably  compensated  by  counter-defec- 
tions, under  the  circumstances)  upon  given  points, 
than  as  a  conscription  of  new  levies.     Further,  that 
as  the  premises  in  the  matter  of  our  present  question 
hinge  not  upon  modal  taste,  as  in  the  instance  of 
convicfor,  but  upon  tangible  fact,  they  are  evidently 
competent  to  give  an  historical  conclusion;  and  that, 
with  respect  to  both  the  propositions   which  have 
been  discussed,  we  are  called  upon  to  imagine  or 
determine,  as  the  matter  of  each  will  admit,  not 
merely  how  far  that  may,  after  all,  be  certain  or  even 
probable  which  has  heretofore  stood  undisputed,  but 
how  far  the  evidence  adduced  may  tend  to  establish 
the  logical  opposites ;  that  is,  the  direct  contradic- 
tories, the  propositions  being  singular :  for  to  this 
length  the  inquiry  as  to  the  certainty  or  probabi- 
lity of  an  ironical  application  must  go. 

The  whole  investigation,  so  far  as  regards  the 
personal  history  of  the  illustrious  poet-philosopher 
of  Venusia,  may  now  legitimately  close  upon  the 
second  of  the  given  propositions.  For  however  in- 
teresting may  be  tlie  points  wliich  the  third  ques- 


56 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


tion  is  calculated  to  raise  in  relation  to  the  general 
subject  of  Roman  military  antiquities,  its  discus- 
sion as  respects  Horace  would  be  nugatory.  To 
any  who  may  now  regard  the  statement  of  his  hav- 
ing held  the  post  of  Tribunus  Militum  in  the  army 
of  Brutus  to  be  simply  a  hitherto  undetected  fiction, 
the  argument  would  appear  inevitably  trifling ;  while 
those  who  still  believe  the  story  have  as  much  or 
more  ground  for  believing  that  a  Military  Tribune 
would,  in  ordinary  routine,  exercise  command  over 
an  entire  Roman  legion. 

This  last  we  shall  therefore  reserve  as  a  general 
question,  and  shall  now  proceed  to  conclude  the 
particular  argument ;  whose  length  is  very  much 
due  to  the  respectful  caution  necessary  in  question- 
ing, for  the  first  time,  opinions  which  have  passed 
current  during  the  lapse  of  seventeen  centuries.    Be- 
fore, however,  any  substantive  version  of  the  pas- 
sage can  be  proposed,  it  must  be  remarked  that  the 
latter  nunc  and  olira  in  the  given  passage,  cannot  be 
regarded  as  mere  temporal  adjuncts  of  the  verbal 
notion  here,  as  nunc  is  in  the  former  instance,  {nunc 
ad  meredeo,  &c.)  without  a  violation  being  implied 
of  consistency   either   in   time   or   in  fact,     Olim 
rodunt  would  be  a  solecism ;  olim  rodebant  is  an  in- 
congruity, alike  inconsistent  with  the  context  and 
with  the  drift  of  the  writer ;  for  the  complaint  which 
Horace  urges  against  his  enemies  is  as  much  a  pre- 
sent grievance  under  its  second  head  as  under  the 
first,  as  appears  further  by  his  remark  in  the  sequel 


RESULTING  EXPOSITION. 


57 


touching  the  second — "  quia  non  utforsit  honorem 
jure  mihi  invideat  quivis!' — They  should  according- 
ly be  understood  as  expressing  respectively  a  present 
and  a  past  condition  of  circumstances  in  time,  and 
not  properly  time  itself;  as  is  continually  true  of  the 
Greek  vvu.  This  view  would  seem  capable  of  being 
simplified  further  by  understanding  quoad  before 
each  of  the  adverbs  taken  substantively;  when  the 
passage  may  be  thus  rendered:  '^ Now  I  return 
to  (the  case  of)  myself  the  son  of  a  freedman  : 
whom  all  carp  at  as  being  the  son  of  a  freedman  (the 
jarring  repetition  serving  to  instance  the  invidious- 
ness  of  their  endless  reiterations  of  the  fact),  with 
regard  to  the  present,  because  (they  say)  lam  your 
table-crony  (a  perversion  of  the  fact  of  your  having 
kindly  enrolled  me  ^inamicorum  numero')  \  but 
with  regard  to  the  past,  because  (they  say)  a  Roman 
legion  (no  less)  yielded  fealty  to  me,  a  7nilitary  tri- 
bune :  (or,  to  such  a  military  tribune  as  I  should 
be :  this  being  an  equally  ill-natured  perversion  of 
another  prominent  incident  in  my  fortunes)." 
In  the  sequel, 

Disslmile  hoc  illi  est  :  quia  non  ut  forsit  honorem 
Jure  mihi  invideat  quivis,  ita  te  quoque  amicum  ; 
Prsesertim  cautum  dignos  assumere,  prava 
Ambitione  procul — 

he  appears  to  argue  with  his  adversaries  on  their 
own  ground,  thus — "  The  one  case  is  not  analogous 
to  the  other :^'  {hoc  probably  referring  rather  to  that 
which  is  nearer  in  relation  than  to  that  which  is  latter 


58 


BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR. 


in  grammatical  position,  and  therefore  meaning  his 
patronage  by  Maecenas)  ^'for  however  any  one  may 
he  justified  in  envying  me  an  official  dignity  (sup- 
posing the  absurd  case  which  is  assumed),  he  can- 
not on  like  grounds  envy  you  to  me  as  a  private 
friend;  particularly  as  you  are  guarded  in  taking  for 
granted  (or  assuming)  the  worthiness  of  parties, 
indirect  canvassing  being  beyond  pale,'' 

[The  third  line  of  the  preceding  passage  is  usually 
understood  as  a  broad  declaration,  on  the  part  of 
Horace,  of  his  complete  worthiness  of  the  friend- 
ship of  Maecenas;  and  it  may  be  so,  for  anything 
that  concerns  the  previous  argument.  However, 
the  sense  incidentally  assigned  above  to  dignos  assu- 
mere  conveys  a  more  delicate  train  of  thought,  and 
will  be  found  to  be  admissible,  from  Cicero's  use 
of  the  verb  assumo;  for  instance,  where  he  combats 
a  certain  dogma  of  Cratippus — "  hoc  tamen  quod  as- 
51^/wzVconcedi  nullo  modo  potest,"  &c. — DeDiv.ii.  52. 
Next,  from  the  cautionary  cave  facias,  suppose,  as 
distinguished  from  the  prohibitory  cave  ne  (just  as 
in  Enghsh  we  say,  "  Take  care  how  you  do  so  and 
so,"  and  "  Take  care  not  to,"  &c.),  the  transition  to 
cautus  facer e  in  the  same  sense  would  seem  easy  and 

natural.] 

Nor  could  an  ironical  taunt  be  better  met  than 
by  a  good-humoured  parry.  Had  Horace  formally 
denied  the  applicability  of  convictor,  his  thinking  it 
necessary  to  do  so  would  have  been  scarcely  re- 
spectful to   Maecenas.     Had   he  deliberately  pro- 


VARIANCE  IN  MILITARY  ANTIQUITIES. 


59 


tested  that  he  never  was  a  Tribunus  Militum, 
the  laughter  of  the  scorners  would  have  received 
fresh  fuel.  But  by  dealing  with  the  one  sneer  deli- 
cately, and  with  the  other  mysteriously,  he  places 
the  enemy  at  fault,  while  he  preserves  the  decorum 
due  both  to  his  patron  and  himself,  and  baffles  the 
conjectures  of  idle  curiosity  as  to  the  exact  nature 
of  his  connexion  with  the  luckless  army  of  Brutus. 
We  shall  now  proceed  to  the  last  proposition, 
which,  as  has  been  stated,  it  seems  preferable  to 
set  forth  in  a  general  form,  and  which  we  shall  dis- 
cuss as  a 


SUPPLEMENTARY  QUESTION. 

3rd.  Is  it  certain  or  probable  that  the  station  of 
Military  Tribune,  at  any  period  in  the  history  of  the 
ancient  Roman  army,  conferred^  ex  officio,  "  the  com- 
mand of  a  Legion'^? 

The  difficulties  which  meet  us  in  an  inquiry  into 
the  details  of  Roman  military  discipline  are  not 
greater  than  might  fairly  be  expected  in  an  institution 
so  necessarily  liable  to  continual  modifications  in  its 
system  and  practice,  and  which  must  now  be  sur- 
veyed by  the  help  of  lights  which  are  partly  dim  in 
themselves,  and  are  partly  marred  in  eficct  by  their 
great  distance  from  each  other.  No  exercise  of  the 
active  habits  more  rapidly  developes  experiment  into 
experience  than  the  practice  of  war;  nor  could  ex- 
perience be  conversant  about  any  system  more  likely 
to  be  suggestive  of  continually  varying  adaptations 


60 


SUPPLEMENTARY  QUESTION. 


to  successively  changing  times,  places,  and  circum- 
stances, than  was  that  ubiquitous  engine,  the  Roman 
military  establishment.   Hence  we  must  not  be  ready 
to  impute  inaccuracies  or  contradictions  to  ancient 
writers  upon  such  subjects,  because  of  their  differ- 
ing from  each  other,  in  widely  different  ages,  in  their 
accounts  of  what  to  us  appears,  at  this  distance  of 
time,  to  be  one  and  the  same  thing.     The  account 
of  the  Roman  Legion,  given  by  Polybius  with  such 
elaborate  attention  to  detail,  is  not,  it  is  true,  cor- 
roborated by  Vegetius,  who  wrote  nearly  600  years 
after  him,    (if  inditing   an  abstract  of  what  may 
be  called  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Roman  army, 
deserve  the  name  of  writing)-,  although  both  may 
testify  truly  to  systems  which  had  actual  existence 
at  some  time,  the  difficulty  lying  less  in  confusion 
of  the  facts  than  of  the  times  in  which  those  facts 
were  true. 

A  large   amount   of  apparently   irreconcileable 
statements  could  be  collected  respecting  the  British 
army,  upon  essential  points  of  organization  and  dis- 
cipline, all  appertaining  to  the  very  last  twenty 
years,  and  all  true  relatively  to  their  proper  dates, 
yet  not  presenting  outlines  of  change   even  now 
easily  traceable  through  military  records  or  histori- 
cal allusions.      Which  may  serve  to  illustrate,  a 
fortiore,  to   the   student   in  the   noble   subject  of 
military  antiquities,   that  he  should  not  infer  in- 
congruity of  fact  from  variance  of  statement  in  an- 
cient writers  ;  but  should  rather  attribute  apparent 


EARLIEST  MENTION  OF  MILITARY  TRIBUNES.        61 


inconsistencies  to  his  own  want  of  adequate  collateral 
information,  and  seek  to  reconcile  such,  as  far  as  may 
be,  by  an  enlarged  sphere  of  reading.  These  remarks 
are  introduced  here,  because  of  the  peculiar  preju- 
dice with  which  disquisitions  respecting  questionable 
points  of  detail,  relative  to  the  military  affairs  of  the 
ancients,  are  usually  approached,  owing  to  the  sup- 
posed prevalence  of  contradictions  in  writers  on  these 
subjects;  and  nothing  is  less  inviting  to  an  ingenuous 
mind  than  the  prospect  of  insecurity  in  reliance  upon 
professed  authority.  But,  although  authorities  seem 
to  differ  widely  on  the  above  question,  nothing  very 
problematicaFor  abstruse  is  anticipated  in  the  follow- 
ing discussion,  nor  anything  very  uncertain  in  the 
result. 

As  the  passage  from  Horace,  just  now  imder  con- 
sideration, is  adduced  in  proof  of  the  affirmative  of 
the  given  question,  the  subject  falls  legitimately  under 
one  of  the  heads  of  an  inquiry  instituted  to  ascertain 
the  author's  whole  meaning  in  the  place.  But  it 
will  be  evident,  on  a  little  consideration,  that  it  must 
wholly  fail  to  serve  as  any  proof  in  this  case.  The 
number  of  military  tribunes  in  a  legion  is  admitted 
on  all  hands  to  have  been  regularly  six;  and  there  is 
nothing  in  the  term  pareret  to  imply  exclusive  obedi- 
ence; nothing  which  would  not  express  the  obedience 
of  a  child  to  both  its  parents,  or  of  a  subordinate  to 
any  number  of  superiors.  Nor  is  the  correlative  ex- 
pression of  Suetonius  (respecting  Horace)—^"  legioni 
praefuit  Romance'' — at  all  more  decisive ;  pra'esse  be- 


* 


62 


SUPPLEMENTARY  QUESTION. 


ing  as  applicable  io  joint  authority  eisparereis  to  obe- 
dience to  such.  Specific  instances  of  both  actually 
occur  in  this  particular  case. 

It  may  be  observed  here  that  the  term  Military 
Tribunes  is  first  found  in  Livy's  notice  of  the  trans- 
actions of  the  memorable  year  b.  c.  447,  when  the 
usurpation  and  outrages  of  the  decemvirs  at  length 
forced  the  dormant  energy  of  the  Roman  people  to 
adopt  measures  which  it  had  been  well  if  assumption 
of  power  while  yet  merely  ridiculous  had  prompted. 
As  that  host  of  late-roused  freemen  stood  still  irre- 
solute on  frowning  Aventine,  mighty  in  numbers, 
yet  imbecile  of  counsel,  Virginius*  thus  advised  the 
armed  multitude: — "  Placere  decem  creari,  qui  sum- 
msQTeiprceessent,mi\itaiYiq\iehonore  tribunos  militum 
appellari." — Liv.  in.  51. 

[Varro's  derivation  of  the  name — "  Tribuni  Mili- 
tum, quod  terni  tribus  tribubus  Ramnium,  Lucerum, 
Tatiensium,  olim  ad  exercitum  mittebantur," — seems 
less  easy  and  natural  than  to  suppose  that  the  name 
arose  from  favourite  tribunitian  associations,  and  the 
number  from  that  of  the  despots  whom  these  offi- 
cers were  provisionally  to  supersede :  though  it  may 
be  highly  probable  that  the  original  tribunes  of  the 


*  This  is  the  same  whose  horrifying  deed  of  momentary  frenzy 
has  been  deemed  worthy,  in  recent  years,  of  being  dramatised. 
The  artistic  combination  of  the  florid  and  lurid,  which  tragedy 
loves  to  borrow  from  reflection  of  the  fiercer  and  darker  passions, 
is  laid  on  a  delicate  ground  when  it  is  made  to  adopt  subjects  as- 
sociated with  contingencies  of  common  life. 


IklODERN  ANTIQUARIANS. 


63 


people  were  so  designated  from  the  primitive  com- 
mandants of  the  tribes  of  Romulus.] 

Again,  the  form  of  words  by  which  the  tribunes 
were  inducted  into  office  has  been  preserved  by 
Alex,  ab  Alex.: — '^ Milites  quibus  jussi  erunt^  pa- 
rento,  eorumque  tribuni  suntd'' — Lib.  vi.  cap.  18, — 
which,  so  far  as  it  is  intelligible,  evidently  indicates 
a  collective  rather  than  a  separate  authority  as  vested 
in  the  tribunes.  Now  it  is  stated  by  Polybius,  and 
is  not  contradicted  by  any  subsequent  author  in  rela- 
tion to  his  own  times,  that  the  six  tribunes  com- 
manded the  legion  by  pairs,  each  pair  for  the  space 
of  two  months,  the  post  of  tribune  being  formally 
tenable  only  for  six  months.  The  following  is  the 
passage  from  Polybius,  when,  describing  the  super- 
intendence necessary  to  the  good  order  of  a  Roman 
encampment,  he  says : — "t^i/  Ee  KaOoXov  loKifiaalav  t^9 

'TrXevpd^  huo  twv  yjiKiapyjiiv  ynoLOVVTai^  .  .  .  kotcl  l)VO 
yap  G(j)a?  clvtov^  dieXovre^  ava  fxepo^  t?;v  Ik/jltjuov 
rriv  hL/JLTjuov  apypvGi^  kclI  'naaip  ol  Xa^oi/res  r/;?  iv  to?? 
VTTcuOpot^  Trpoiaravrai  y^peia^,  — Lib.  VI.  Cap.  32. 

The  question  is  then  narrowed  to  this — Did  the 
two  tribunes,  who  thus  commanded  in  chief  for  the 
space  of  two  months,  command  separately  each  for 
one  month  ?  Among  the  assertors  of  the  separate 
command  of  the  tribunes  in  rotation,  are  to  be  found 
the  leading  authorities  upon  subjects  of  classical 
antiquity  usually  followed  in  this  country,  Smith  and 
Adam  ;  Walker  also,  in  his  valuable  edition  of  the 
works  of  Livy,  seems  to  lean  to  this  side.   And  it  is 


64 


SUPPLEMENTARY  QUESTION. 


the  most  favourable  view  which  can  be  taken  of  Mil- 
man's  sweeping  declaration—*'  Horace  was  at  once 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  military  tribune,  and  the 
command  of  a  legion:'— to  suppose  that  he  means 
the  temporary  circulating  alternation  of '  command' 
above-mentioned.     As  the  essayist  in  Dr.  Smith's 
book  quotes  no  authority  for  his  statement,—"  the 
six  tribunes  who  were  placed  over  a  legion  com- 
manded by  turns,"— the  general  meagreness  of  his 
very  partial  notice  of  those  important  officers,  which 
has  been  before  alluded  to,  must  lead  to  the  infe- 
rence  that  he  relies,  on  no  evidence  stronger  than 
that  which  can  be  easily  shown  to  be  inconclusive 
in  the  references  of  others.  Walker's  statement  runs 
thus:— "Tribuni  militum  inter  se  comparare  soliti 
erant,  ut  e  sex  tribunis,  qui  in  quamque  legionem 
erant,  (this  is  hardly  in  keeping  with  Walker's  usual 
Latmity),  duo,  alterna  vice,  semestris  spatii  menses 
duos  imperarent."— Annot.  ad  Lib.  xl.  41.     The 
wording  of  this  extract  would  make  it  rather  appear 
that  he  favoured  the  negative  of  our  question  :  but 
the  Index,  in  reference  to  the  passage,  implies  the 
other  meaning  of  alterna  vice  by  a  general  statement 
under  Tribuni—''  alternis  imperabant." 

Dr.  Adam's  proof  that  the  military  tribunes  "com- 
manded under  the  consul,  each  in  his  turn,  usually 
a  month  about,"  is  confined  toLivy,  lx.  41,  and  The 
passage  from  Horace  just  examined  ;  while  in  the 
edition  by  Major  it  is  acknowledged  that  this  is  at 
variance  with  the  statement  of  Polybius. 


LEGITIMATE  VALUE  OF  INFERENCE  FROM  LIVY.       65 

Wherever  the  testimony  of  Livy  is  really  repug- 
nant to  that  of  more  accredited  authorities  upon  mili- 
tary matters,  the  question  will  admit  of  a  brief  set- 
tlement, if  we  refer  to  Niebuhr's  estimate  of  his 
pretensions  in  this  department.  He  must  be  a  self- 
confiding  scholar  who  applauds  where  Niebuhr  con- 
demns ;  and  the  following  verdict  stands  recorded 
in  his  ninth  lecture  upon  the  sources  and  study  of 
Roman  history, — "  Livy  has  no  idea  either  of  a  state 
or  of  tactics;  and  when,  in  the  third  chapter  of  the 
eighth  book,  he  speaks  of  battles,  it  is  evident  that  he 
has  no  conception  of  the  most  ordinary  rules  of  draw- 
ing up  the  legions  in  battle  array;  he  had,  perhaps, 
never  seen  a  legion  making  its  exercises,  and  hence 
the  arrangement  which  he  describes  is  utterly  impos- 
sible."— But  in  the  present  instance  the  context  and 
wording  of  the  place  in  Livy  are  actually  in  favour  of 
the  opposite  view  to  that  in  proof  of  which  it  is  re- 
ferred to  by  Dr.  Adam,  while  there  is  nothing  in  it 
which  can  include  this  incidental  narrative  under 
Niebuhr's  condemnation.  It  is  simply  stated  of  a 
military  tribune  employed  against  the  Ligures, — "  Is 
mensibus  suis  dimisit  legionem  "  Now  this  appears, 
as  clearly  as  words  can  express  it,  to  infer  that  his 
command  extended  over  months,  and  not  merely  over 
a  month  ;  while  the  context  relates  not  only  that 
this  command  was  divided  with  another  tribune,  but 
that  he,  on  hearing  officially  of  the  disbanding  of  the 
legion,  sent  out  detachments  who  arrested  as  many 
of  the  straggling  soldiers  as  could  be  found,  and  also 

£ 


II 


C6 


SUPPLEMENTARY  QUESTION. 


l( 


H 


lodged  a  complaint  before  the  Consul  which,  when 
forwarded  to  the  home  authorities,  caused  the  whole 
legion  to  be  placed  under  stoppages  of  six  months' 
pay,  and  the  offending  tribune  to  be  sent  from  Pisa 
in  Italy,  where  the  occurrence  took  place,  to  undergo 
the  punishment  of  relegatio  at  Carthagena  in  Spain.* 
We  are  of  course  not  entitled  to  argue  that,  because 
the  tribune  had  not  individual  power  of  dismissal, 
he  therefore  had  not  separate  command.   But  enough 
of  evidence  is  fairly  derivable  from  the  circumstances 
of  the  narrative  to  disprove  Dr.  Adam's  inference. 
1st.  It  is  plain  that  the  authority  of  the  other  tribune 
over  the  whole  of  the  same  legion  was  recognised 
by  the  Consul  and  Senate.     2nd.  That  this  was  a 
properly  co-ordinate  authority  is  ultimately  deducible 
from  the  proofs  of  the  fact  that  the  amount  of  the 
guilty  officer's  offence  must  have  been  greater  than 
indiscretion,  and  less  than  perduellio  or  treason  to 
the  state.     For,  on  the  one  hand,  even  the  severity 
of  Roman  discipline  is  insufficient  to  account  for 
such  a  measure  of  punishment  being  administered  to 
subordinate  parties,  had  they  not,  in  obeying  the 
tribune's  order  for  their  disbanding,  acted  in  disre- 
gard of  another  authority  which  could  still  demand 
their  services  ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  sentence  of 
relegatio  (the  degradation  of  which  in  this  case  was 

*  In  examining  the  context,  the  reader  must  mark  the  fact 
that  the  names  of  the  tribunes  concerned,  and  of  the  Consuls  for 
the  year,  happen  to  be  sufficiently  similar  to  endanger  accuracy 
in  the  construction  of  the  author's  meaning. 


SUM  OF  POSITIVE  AND  NEGATIVE  EVIDENCE.       67 

even  partially  covered  by  the  officer  being  made 
the  bearer  of  foreign  despatches)  would  appear  to 
have  been  wholly  incommensurate  with  the  magni- 
tude of  the  offence,  had  not  its  exact  nature  been 
affected  by  some  concomitant  circumstance.  And 
such  is  alone  supplied  by  the  existence  of  a  sufficient 
countervailing  authority, yAiioh.  interposed  with  timely 
effectiveness  to  prevent  all  the  evil  consequences 
which  might  have  resulted. 

Next,  as  to  the  passage  in  Horace  to  which  Dr. 
Adam  refers,  independently  of  its  application  in- 
volving, relatively  to  this  argument,  o.  petitio  princi- 
jni,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Lipsius  (an  authority  whom 
antiquarian  writers  profess  to  follow,  and  particularly 
Dr.  Adam,  with  reference  to  military  affairs),  when 
he  quotes  the  before-mentioned  passage,  employs  it 
not  to  prove  a  general  separate  authority,  as  vested 
in  single  tribunes  at  or  for  any  time,  but  in  an  attempt 
to  show  that  their  command  icas  properly  over  the 
whole  legion,  as  contradistinguished  from  being  confined 
to  a  particular  department  of  it.  His  words  are: — 
"  Recte  ^(?^am  legionem  sibi  vindicat  (Horatius)  quia 
hini  et  bini  imperabant  ei  per  vices;" — having  pre- 
viously stated  his  exact  proposition  thus — "  Legioni 
toti  praeerant  (tribuni).  Toti  dico:  nee  enim  certce 
ejus  partiJ^ 

Thus  the  modern  statement  is  in  direct  contra- 
diction to  the  evidence  of  Polybius,  the  most  diffuse 
and  minute  writer,  upon  these  subjects,  of  ancient 
times,  and  who  has  been  deservedly  "  recommended 

E  2 


68 


SUPPLEMENTARY  QUESTION. 


in  every  age  and  country  "  (to  quote  the  words  of 
Lempriere)  "  as  the  best  master  in  the  art  of  war." 
It  is  likewise  opposed  to  the  express  testimony  of  his 
learned,  though  quaint,  commentator  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  And  this  is  of  weight,  even  although  we 
may  see  reason  to  reject  the  whole  argument  of  Lip- 
sius  as  being  extreme  in  the  opposite  direction.  It 
is  nowhere  to  be  found  in  Vegetius,  Alex,  ab  Alex., 
or  Gellius.  Nothing  tantamount  is  quoted  from  any 
other  ancient  writer:  and  the  splendid  work  known 
as  Rosini  Antiquitatum  Corpus,  belonging  to  the  next 
century  (from  whose  treasures  more  is  apparently 
borrowed  than  acknowledged  in  modern  publica- 
tions), is  wholly  silent   about   any   such  military 


arrangement. 


Besides,  did  such  exist,  w^hat  conceivable  pur- 
pose could  the  selection  Jy^^a/r*' have  been  intended 
to  serve  ?  Why  should  not  the  command  have  passed 
from  tribune  to  tribune  in  monthly  rotation,  without 
any  arrangement  by  pairs  being  adopted  in  the  man" 
ner  so  specifically  detailed  ?  It  is  of  course  impos- 
sible to  assign  limits  to  extreme  cases,  which  in  war- 
service  often  necessitate  the  suspension  of  standing 
rules,  and  temporarily  invest  even  inferior  officers  with 
extraordinary  powers.  But  a  mere  provision  against 
contingencies  would  not  be  adequate  to  account  for 
a  permanent  institution  like  that  now  under  consi- 
deration. And  on  the  whole,  the  notion  of  single 
tribunes  being  systematically  and  ex  officio  advanced 
by  alternation  to  *  the  command  of  a  legion '  appears 


ARGUMENT  OF  LIPSIUS  EXAMINED. 


G9 


to  be  a  modern  fancy  contravening  known  regula- 
tions of  Roman  military  economy. 

These  observations  may  fitly  close  with  a  brief 
notice  of  the  principle  put  forward  in  the  argument 
of  Lipsius  above  alluded  to,  with  a  view  to  reducing 
it  within  reconcileable  limits.  The  exact  scope  of  it 
has  been  previously  stated  in  his  own  words  ;  and 
denies  the  applicability  of  Polybius's  term  x^^^P" 
yoi  to  the  tribunes  as  indicating  command  over  any 
portion  of  a  legion,  but  supposes  it  to  be  a  borrowed 
term  from  Greek  military  affairs  in  a  general  sense. 
His  objection  to  tribunes  holding  departmental 
command  seems  over-minutely  arithmetical — "  Istw 
(cohortes)  decern:  et  tribuni  sex  fuerunt :  quomodo 
aptes  ?''  To  which  it  might  be  retorted  :  How  were 
the  four,  wlio  were  not  in  general  command,  employed  ? 
Of  this  no  solution  is  derivable  from  his  system. 

Now  it  seems  very  natural  to  suppose  that  while 
two  commanded  in  chief,  the  remaining /(?wr  com- 
manded in  departments.  This  will  harmonize  with 
the  entire  system  of  Poly  bins,  and  will  fairly  account 
for  the  term  ^'^Xiapxoi  (which,  after  all,  is  too  specific 
to  be  so  summarily  generalized),  when  we  estimate  in 
round  numbers  the  ordinary  contingent  of  a  Roman 
legion:  it  will  coincide  with  a  statement  of  Dr.  Adam 
— "  In  battle,  a  tribune  seems  to  have  had  the  charge 
of  ten  centuries,  or  about  1,000  men  :"  it  will  not 
interfere  w^ith  the  derivation  of  the  Latin  name  from 
the  original  assignment  of  separate  Tribunes  to  the 
separate  Tribes,  as  stated  by  Varro:  and  it  w^ill  help 


70 


SLTPLE^ILNTAUY  QUESTION. 


to  solve  a  difficulty  in  Livy,  ''  — sub  base  A.  Biecu- 
lonium  signiferum  suum,  not^e  fortitudinis  viruni, 
inferre  signum  jussit."  xli.  4: — upon  which  Walker 
remarks — "  Jure  quaerit  Dukerus,  cur  addat  siiurn, 
quasi  peculiarem  aliquem  signiferum  tribuni.  Tri- 
buni  militum  toti  prseerant  legioni." — The  present 
theory  would  admit  the  inference  that  the  author  pro- 
bably alludes  to  the  bearer  of  the  leading  standard 
of  the  division  which  the  tribune  commanded ;  and 
which,  no  doubt,  at  that  period,  was  a  division  exclu- 
sively either  of  Hastati,  Principes,  or  Triarii ;  for  it 
was  not  until  the  time  of  Marius,  or  of  Cassar,  that 
the  organization  by  cohorts  superseded  this  separate 
distribution  of  troops.* 

If  our  discussion  of  this  antiquarian  question  has 
served  to  illustrate,  in  a  manner  encouraging  to  the 
inquirer,  the  process  of  reducing  not  only  to  their 
least  terms,  but  also  to  their  least  value,  the  appa- 
rently embarrassing  contradictions  which  sometimes 
meet  us  in  this  department  of  classical  research,  a 
greater  end  is  certainly  gained  than  the  determina- 
tion of  the  particular  issue  involved.  The  impor- 
tance of  the  latter,  however,  would  be  ill  appreciated 


*  The  reader  will  find  corroborative  matter  in  the  article 
Manipulus  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Antiquities,  contributed 
by  Mr.  Ramsay.  But  instead  of  referring  to  what  the  writer 
calls  the  locus  dassicus  on  the  subject,  viz.,  Aulus  Gellius's  quo- 
tation from  '  Cincius  de  re  militari,'  and  which  is  confined  to  one 
line  in  the  original,  he  may  with  profit  substitute  the  "Dies 
Geniales"  for  the  "  Noctes  Atticae." 


RECAPITULATION  OF  HEADS. 


71 


by  regarding  it  merely  as  an  isolated  question  of  fact. 
Taken  in  connexion  with  its  antecedents  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages  (the  results  being  supposed  to  be  fairly 
made  out),  few  subjects  of  inquiry,  perhaps,  could 
more  strongly  exemplify  the  eifects  of  the  primary 
abuse  of  words.  An  amount  of  incongruities  almost 
ludicrous  is  here  found  lurking  unexamined  for  ages 
under  the  use  of  a  single  term  "  without  clear  and 
distinct  ideas."  Yet,  as  far  as  the  ideas  which  con- 
stituted complex  notions  belonging  to  bygone  times 
can  be  truly  collected  by  reasonable  industry  em- 
ployed about  accessible  proofs,  so  far  at  least  the 
classical  scholar  ought  to  be  expected  to  be  precise 
in  his  application  of  the  representative  terms. 


The  views  advanced  in  the  preceding  part  of  the 
present  Section,  and  which  follow  in  it  the  order 
of  their  being  suggested  by  the  text,  may  now  be 
summed  up,  relatively  to  the  prominence  of  their 
bearing  upon  the  received  biography  of  Horace,  un- 
der the  following  heads: 

1st.  That  the  current  belief  of  his  having  been 
"  advanced  to  the  rank  of  military  tribune,"  and 
that  too  in  an  army  which  has  been  shown  to  have 
comprised,  not  a  fortuitous  concourse  of  adventurers 
and  revolutionists,  but  one  of  the  most  imposing  com- 
binations of  highly-disciplined  battalions  which  the 
Roman  world  ever  witnessed,  appears  wholly  desti- 


72 


BIOGRArHICAL  COROLLARIES. 


PERSONJE  TRIBUNITI^  HORATIANiE. 


73 


tute  of  real  foundation  in  fact.     2nd.  That  not  less 
foreign,  in  all  probability,  from  the  facts  and  feelings 
which  marked  the  poet's  career  is  the  equally  pre- 
valent notion  of  his  having  visited  Athens,  for  the 
purpose  of  superadding  a  Grecian   '  finish'  to  his 
Roman  acquirements,  among  the  wealthier  crowd, 
indiscriminately  composed,  no  doubt,  of  thoughtful 
students  and  frivolous  idlers  (for  to  this  latter  ubi- 
quitous   class  also  Athens  must  have  presented  a 
diversified  series  of  attractive  novelties),  whom  the 
established  law  oihaut  ton,  at  least  as  much  as  the 
desire  of  improvement,  may  be  naturally  supposed 
to  have  congregated  to  that  fashionable  resort.  3rd. 
That  a  supposition  running  parallel  with  the  former 
of  those,  in  position  and  fallacy,  (and  materially  aiding 
the  illustration  of  its  absurdity),  attributes  to  him  a 
statement  almost  equally  anomalous  respecting  his 
social  relations.     4th.  That  even  had  the  poet  borne 
the  office  of  military  tribune,  it  would  not,  therefore, 
be  true  that  he  held  "  the  command  of  a  legion;" 
much  less,  if  it  be  possible,  that  he  ^  commanded'  at 
the  battle  of  Philippi. 

These  views  would  appear,  for  the  most  part,  re- 
ciprocally to  derive  some  further  accession  of  proof 
from  several  incidental  considerations,  whose  men- 
tion might  have  incumbered  the  previous  arguments, 
and  to  impart  to  these  a  certain  amount  of  inferential 
weight,  mutual  independence  being  sufficiently  pre- 
served. 

And  first,  let  us  glance  at  the  remaining  passages 


in  the  works  of  Horace,  in  which  the  military  tribu- 
nate is  alluded  to.  These  are  limited  to  two.  One 
almost  immediately  precedes  the  passage  just  now 
under  consideration,  in  which  he  satirises  a  probably 
pompous  official  by  this  apostrophe — 

*        *        *        *         Quo  tibi,  xl^ij- I 

Sumere  depositum  clavum,  fieriquc  trihuno  ? 
Invidia  accrevit,  private  C[ua3  minor  csset. 

Ser.  I.  VI.  24-(). 

The  other  occurs  in  an  association  almost  identi- 
cal with  the  former — 

Hoc,  hoc  trihuno  militiim  !— Ep.  iv.  20. 

It  is  fortunately  as  unnecessary,  as  it  would  be 
tedious,  to  discuss  with  the  commentators  whether 
the  parties  thus  ridiculed  were  originally  of  high  or 
low  deforce :  or  whether  the  demerit  of  Tillius  or  of 
Menas  be  literal,  as  that  of  Nomentanus,  or  figurative, 
as  that  of  Canidia.  Suffice  to  say,  that  each  of  these 
parties  combined  with  his  military  tribunate  an  in- 
fluential status  in  society,  and  thus  had  considerably 
the  advantage  of  Horace,  who  could  allege  neither 
this,  nor  the  merit  of  a  soldier,  as  an  apology  for 
having  adventured  to  climb  to  a  like  elevation  in 
the  army.  The  one  is  mentioned  as  having  '  re- 
gained' laticlavian  rank;  and,  if  his  identity  be  as 
certain  as  most  commentators  maintain  it  to  be,  a 
change  of  political  parties  had  alone  caused  him  to 
lose  it:  of  the  other  (besides  the  dignity  implied  by 


^^- 


74 


BIOGRAPHICAL  COKOLLARIES. 


*'  sedilibusque  magnus  in  primis  eques" — which,  how- 
ever, may  have  merely  belonged  to  his  official  posi- 
tion), it  is  affirmed  (probably  with  some  exaggera- 
tion) "aratFalerni  mille  fundi  jugera."  The  parties, 
moreover,  were  severally  in  possession  of  an  office 
from  which  our  satirist  is  related  to  have  fallen. 

On  the  generally  received  supposition,  does  not 
all  this  tend  much  ('  absit  ab  illo  dedecus  hoc!') 
to  reduce  the  poet-philosopher  to  the  level  of  the 
rnalignum  viilgus  which  he  professed  to  despise  ? 
Does  not  indignant  satire  here  seem  to  sink  into  en- 
vious grudge  ?  And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  im- 
policy of  such  allusions  to  the  particular  office  as 
he  must  have  foreseen  would  be  likely  to  be  so  in- 
terpreted by  the  world,  while  the  facts  of  his  own 
case  were  yet  recent  ?  But,  on  the  contrary,  should 
we  conclude  that  the  invented  story  of  his  military 
tribuneship  was  a  standing  jest  against  him,  and  that, 
in  the  passage  which  has  suggested  our  whole  in- 
quiry, he  merely  speaks  ''  in  the  character,  assumed 
for  the  moment,  of  an  adversary"  (if  we  may  apply 
to  the  citation  of  an  irony  the  words  of  an  eminent 
author  in  describing  the  ironical  form  itself),  his  per- 
fect indifference  to  such  idle  jeers  would  be  strongly 
(and  the  more  so  if  unintentionally)  exhibited  by  his 
freely  exposing,  on  public  grounds,  when  it  came  in 
course,  what  he  deemed  to  be  the  unworthiness  of 
parties  to  reach  this  very  distinction. 

Again,  the  coarseness  of  the  term  convictor,  as  com- 
pared with  conviva^  seems  not  less  repugnant  to  the 


PARTICULAR  TESTS  OF  GENERAL  ASSERTION.       75 

erratic  freedom  of  the  poet's  very  idleness,  than  to 
the  independence  of  his  fixed  principles.     Even  the 
delicacy  of  his  physical  constitution  forbad  him  to  be 
fettered  to  task  or  table,  and  anon  caused  him,  even 
amid  the  fatigues  of  travel,  to  fast  while  others  feasted; 
r-'- — caenantes  haud  sequo  animo  expectans  comites." 
Ser.  I.  V.  8-9.)     And  what  task  would  be  to  him 
most  irksome  ?     Emphatically  the  cultura  potentis 
amici    What  table  to  him  most  habitually  inviting  ? 
The  simple  lapis  alhus,  with  its  campana  supellex. 
Frankly  on  occasion  to  interchange  hospitalities,  and 
freely  to  pass  the  bowl,  possessed  for  him  a  lively 
social  charm.    But  even  his  praises  of  wine  never,  in 
a  single  instance,  respect  the  gratification  of  his  own 
palate.     It  is  with  him  simply  an  instrument  of  soci- 
ety or  health.  His  invitations  to  Maecenas  breathe  the 
same  easy  spirit  as  those  addressed  to  other  fiiends; 
and  in  his  many  familiar  recognitions  of  the  kindness 
of  his  patron,  no  allusion  to  any  marked  hospitable 
attentions  ever  occurs.     Substantial  tokens  of  gene- 
rous friendship,  particularly  the  gift  of  the  Sabine 
fiirm,  "  the  only  productive  property"  (in  the  words 
of  Milman)   "  that  he  ever  possessed,"  he  certainly 
had  received:  and  these  he  was  ever  as  ready  to 
acknowledge,  as  he  was  content  to  resign  should 
the  retention   of  them  at  any  time  seem  to  com- 
promise, or  even  to  trench  upon  his  first,  and  most 
jealously  fenced  prerogative — independence.     But 
it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  in  describing  the 
rise  and  progress  of  his  intimacy  with  Maecenas,  a^ 


76 


BIOGRAPHICAL  COROLLARIES. 


also  the  censorious  taunts  and  jeers  thence  resulting, 
the  habit  of  personal  intercourse  is  throughout  laid  in 
mid-day  or  morning  visits,  excursions,  and  scenes  of 
public  amusement.  (Thus,  "  —  tu  pulses  omne  quod 
obstat,  ad  Msecenatem  memori  si  mente  recurras  !" 
Ser.  II.  vl  30-1.  "Imprimat  his  cura  Msecenas  signa 
tabellis."  Id.  38.  "  —  quem  tollere  rheda  vellet  iter 
facions.''     Id.  42-3.     "  Matutina  parum  cautos  jam 
frigora mordent."  Id.  45.  '^  — ludos  spectaverat  (or -it) 
unk:  luserat  (or  -it)  incampo."  Id.  48-9.)    Thispub- 
licHy  it  was,  no  doubt,  which  first  attracted  the  eyes 
of  scorners:  and  the  envious  crowd  imagined  the 
rest.  But  that  his  presence  at  the  sumptuous  board  of 
Mascenas  (whose  vast  circle  of  acquaintance  among 
private  compeers,  diplomatic  functionaries,  and  poli- 
tical celebrities  alone  it  must  have  been  a  difficult  and 
delicate  task  to  contract  inieriore  gyro,  or  to  divide 
into  convenient  social  segments)  was  not  an  habi- 
tual occurrence,  much  less  a  matter  of  course,  seems 
an  unconstrained  deducible,  not  only  from  the  above 
and  other  omissions  of  any  kindred  allusion,  but  also  ' 
from  the  humorous  sketch  which  Horace  supposes 
his  servant  to  draw  of  the  flurry  consequent  on  the 
sudden  arrival  of  an  occasional  (and,  it  would  ap- 
pear, private)  summons  of  this  kind 

*         *         *         Jusserit  ad  se 
Maecenas  serum  sub  lumina  prima  venire 
Convivam :  '  Nemon  oleum  feret  ocius  ?     Ecquis 

Audit?'  cum  magno  blateras  clamore,  f"§^sque\ 

turisque.  j 

Skr.  II.  VII.  32-5. 


THE  COMMON  INDICES  OF  CHARACTER. 


77 


It  may,  indeed,  be  questioned,  whether  the  pre- 
ceding considerations  do  not  furnish  at  least  as  much 
ground  for  resting  our  interpretation  of  the  phrase, 
quia  sim  tihi  convictor,  upon  the  truth  or  falsehood 
of  the  matter  of  the  proposition  itself,  as  any  other 
reasons  have  supplied  for  treating  the  serious  use  of 
convictor  in  the  case  as  a  question  of  good  taste  or 
impropriety.     Nor  will  any  force  which  they  may 
appear  to  possess  be  at  all  diminished  by  reference 
to  the  amount  of  familiarity  implied  in  the  salutary 
check  administered  by  our  poet  to  a  stranger,  who 
contemplated  a  surreptitious  introduction  to  the  so- 
ciety of  Mascenas,  " —  non  isto  vivimus  (or  vivitur) 
illic  quo  tu  rere  modo."     Ser.  I.  ix.  48-9.     For  the 
terms  representing   *  life    are,  by  an  instinctively 
natural  figure,  employed  so  generally,  in  languages 
living  and  dead,  to  signify  a  course  of  conduct,  that 
such  usage  resembles  a  result  of  general  consent. 
And  thus  the  phrase  amounts  to  no  more  than  this 
— "  the  character  of  our  converse  there  is  not  such  as 
you  supposed   Of  course  the  intimacy  of  Horace  and 
his  select  friends  with  Maecenas  was  sufficiently  great 
to  enable  the  parties  duly  to  estimate  one  another. 
But  that  very  small  portions  of  the  Hives'  of  indivi- 
duals, passing  under  the  immediate  notice  of  their  fel- 
lows, should  be  often  taken  as  rational  exponents  of 
the  whole,  is  not  only  a  natural  and  necessary  law  of 
human  society,  as  a  fair  basis  of  general  approbation 
or  disesteem,  but  is  really  a  suppressed  premiss  in 
most  cases  of  the  inference  of  good  or  bad  charac- 


78 


BIOGRAPHICAL  COROLLARIES. 


ter  even  from  full  and  formal  records :  though  the 
amount  of  particular  experience  requisite  to  the  as- 
certainment of  a  virtuous  or  a  vicious  moral  constitu- 
tion be  allowed  to  be  fully  as  great  as  indicated  by 
the  distich — 

XpovoQ  ^iKQiov  av^pa  StiKvvcriv  fiovoq' 


K 


aKOv 


^l 


KUV  £V  T?/U£/0?  yVOn](:  flL^. 


Against  the  theory,  however,  which  would  thus 
suppose  Horace  to  exhibit  by  the  term  tribunus,  in 
the  passage  which  heads  this  Section,  an  instance  of 
the  derision  to  which  he  was  exposed,  and  by  con- 
victor  a  specimen  of  the  affected  scorn,  in  which  the 
envious  vented  their  jealousy,  it  may  with  some  show 
of  reason  be  objected  that,  were  such  a  sense  really 
contained  in  the  passage,  it  would  not  have  remained 
thus  long  undetected.  But  besides  that  such  an  ap- 
plication of  the  argurnentum  ad  verecundiam  may  be 
identical  with  saying  that  everything  which  can  ever 
be  known  of  Horace  and  his  writings  is  known  (and 

who  shall  assert  this  of  any  ancient  author?),  the  occa- 
sional tendency  even  of  whole  ironical  dissertations 
to  escape  the  apprehension  of  readers  is  very  remark- 
able: and  this  must  be  true  afortiore  of  isolated  ironi- 
cal and  sarcastic  allusions ;  and  still  more  of  indirect 
citations  of  such.  How  many  have  commented  upon 
the  satire  of  Horace  commencing  Unde  et  quo  Ca- 
tiusf  (perhaps  the  best  of  his  satirical  productions) 
without  at  all  perceiving  the  pungency  of  its  point 
throughout  ?   How  many  readers  have  perused  some 


THE  PHILOSOPHIC  SCHOOLS  OF  ATHENS. 


79 


of  the  best  of  Lucian's  Dialogues,  and  imagined  them- 
selves reading  a  book  of  illustrations  of  legendary 
systems  of  belief,  like  the  Metamorphoses  of  Ovid  ? 
And  no  doubt  this  subtlety,  by  which  '  the  ivy-wreath 
conceals  the  point  of  the  thyrsus,'  is  still  latent  in 
-reryin^nyirndiscovered  instaiices  in  satiric  writers. 

Lastly,had  Horace's  journey  to  Athens  been  made 
with  a  temporary  and  specific  view,  as  is  invariably 
stated,  "  to  complete  his  education"  (a  euphonic 
phrase  which  generally  'loses'  by  interpretation),  a 
much  less  period  might  be  supposed  to  have  suited 
both  his  requirements  and  his  means  than  that  which 
he  actually  spent  in  the  Capital  of  Letters.  A  six 
months'  residence  there  sufficed  Cicero  for  (in  the 
words  of  his  latest  and  best  biographer)  "  diligently 
revising  and  extending  his  acquaintance  with  philo- 
sophy;" and  yet  we  find  our  poet-philosopher  com- 
plaining that,  after  what  the  most  accredited  autho- 
rities agree  in  fixing  as  a  stay  of  fully  three,  if  not 
of  four  years  duration^  "  dura  sed  emovere  loco  me 
tempora  grato"!  Epis.  H.  ii.  46. 

Now,  independently  of  the  outlay  contingent  on 
travel,  the  class-fees  of  the  Athenian  schools  must 
have  borne  a  full  proportion  to  all  the  concomitant 
circumstances.  The  professors  were  eminent:  those 
fees  constituted  their  chief,  if  not  their  whole  in- 
come:* the  scene  of  their  labours  was  world-famed: 


f*' 

X^'" 


*  The  Athenian  schools  of  philosophy  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  sustained  by  any  public  endowment  before  the  time  of  the 
Antonines,  whose  liberal  policy  assigned  a  state  allowance  of  ten 
thousand  drachmoe  annually  to  each  professor  of  the  four  chiefly 


80 


BlOGKAl'UICAL  COROLLARIES. 


and  the  pupils  were  opulent.  The  laws  of  arithmetic 
will  not  be  trifled  with;  query,  then,  can  any  conceiv- 
able condition  of  circumstances  make  it  probable  or 
not  very  improbable,  that  the  income  of  the  mace,- 
agellus  couU  have  sufficed  for  such  disproportionate 
expenses  as  these  must  have  been? 

Moreover,  had  Horace  formally  attached  himself 
to  the  Athenian  schools,  should  we  not  naturally  ex- 
pect to  find  some*  mention  occurring,  within  a  range 

antagonist  schools,   viz.  the   Platonic,   Peripatetic,    Stoic,  and 
Epicurean;  as  also  to  the  professors  of  rhetorical  and  of  politi- 
cal science.     Previously  to  this  period   any  collateral  support 
which  they  received  seems   to  have  been  merely  permissive  by 
law  such  as  the  bequest  of  the  gardens  of  Epicurus,  the  devising 
of  the  patrimony  of  Plato,  and  the  foundation  of  the  library  by 
Adrian.     The  principle  of  the  endowment  by  the  Antonines  is 
traceable,  through  a  fluctuating  amount  of  salary,   almost  unin- 
terruptedly to  the  date  of  the  compulsory  closing  of  the  schools 
by  Justmian.   Isocrates,  on  the  other  hand,  who  flourished  about 
400  years  before  the  time  of  Horace,  was  in  receipt  of  a  sum  equal 
to  the  preceding  from  his  rhetorical  class  alone  of  100  pupils 
although  he  derides  the  avarice  of  the  lecturers  of  that  day,  and 
IS  himself  said  to  have  shed  tears  when  he  first  "  exchanged  fthe 
communication  of]  knowledge  for  gold." 

From  these  extremes  we  may  approximate  somewhat  to  a 
mean,  which  will  affirm  the  estimated  value  and  probable  expen- 
siveness  of  educational  courses  at  Athens. 

•  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  commentators  are  wrong  in  assu- 
ming the  Philodemus  so  disreputably  associated  in  Seb.  I  „  to 
be  the  same  who  presided  at  the  head  of  the  Epicurean  school  at 
Athens.  But  even  if  the  fact  be  so,  the  tone  of  the  passage  sounds 
much  more  of  the  gossip  of  a  town  than  of  the  echo  of  a  lecture- 
hall;  and  IS,  therefore,  proportional  ly  unlike  the  language  of  a 
pupil.  °     ° 


EDUCATIONAL  REMINISCENCES. 


81 


so  diversified  as  that  of  his  works,  oisome  of  the  pro- 
fessors  who  presided  in  those  august  seats  of  learn- 
ing; some  allusion  to  competition  in  the  literary  race; 
some  record  of  acquaintance  begun  or  matured  at 
Athens  in  that  rank  of  life  to  which  his  talents  even- 
tually introduced  him  at  Rome  ?  But  no  clue  leading 
in  this  direction  is  anywhere  discoverable.  Indeed, 
the  only  direct  allusion  which  he  makes  to  the  scho- 
lastics of  Athens  even  conveys  a  sneer,  (Jam  mcechus 
Eomwjam  mallet  doctor  (or,  doctus)  Athenis  vivere. 
Ser.  II.  VII.  13-4),  however  it  may  favour  her  pre- 
tensions to  superior  external  decorum. 

Thus  he  who  has  '  wedded  to  immortal  verse'  the 
transient  associations  called  forth  by  remembrance  of 
the  village  pedagogue  Flavins,  and  the  metropolitan 
'principal'  Orbilius,  (a  name  impressed  by  the  least 
agreeable  of  the  helps  to  memory),  can  find  no  niche 
in  the  temple  of  poetry  wherein  to  set  up  the  image 
of  a  Theomnestus  or  a  Cratippus.  He  who  has  indeli- 
bly recorded  his  obligation  to  the  rustic  Ofellus,  from 
whose  frugality,  and  resignation  under  sadly  altered 
circumstances  of  a  once  well-plenished  homestead, 
he  had  derived  a  chance  lesson  of  practical  economy 
and  contentment,  seems  to  have  been  indebted  for 
the  guidance  of  his  steps  to  no  'Faunus,  Mercurialium 
custos  virorum:  in  pacing  the  sylvan  recesses  of  the 

Academia. 

Attempts  have  indeed  been  made  to  establish  a 
probability  that  two  of  his  friends  at  Rome,  (Messala 
and  Bibulus),  had  been  among  his  former  associates 


82 


BIOGRAPHICAL  COKOLLARIES. 


THK  poet's  memoranda  OF  ATHENS. 


83 


at  Athens;  but  these  are  admittedly  conjectural,  and 
plainly  inconclusive.    Even  his  intimacy  abroad  with 
his  earliest  known  companion,  Pompeius  Varus,  can- 
not be  traced  back  to  A  thens.     Nor  is  it  less  remark- 
able that  he  whose  nature  was  so  kindly,  and  whose 
words  so  truthfully  reflect  his  thoughts,  in  every 
relation  of  a  chequered  life,  seems  to  have  breathed 
no  homeward  aspiration  during,  or  at  the  close  of  a 
comparatively  protracted  sojourn  in  a  foreign  city 
My,  he  even  expresses   chagrin   at  having  been 
forced  out  of"  a  place  which  to  Roman  students  in 
genera   served  as  a  very  temporary  divertkulmi  on 
the  high  road  of  professional  accomplishment,  or  fash- 
ionable pleasure  :  and  it  would  further  appear,  from 
otiier  places  in  his  writings  (Carm.  I.  vii.  10-1. 
Epis.  I.  XI.  7-8),  that  during  his  subsequent  peregri- 
nations with  Brutus,  (when  alone  it  is  conceivable  that 
he  could  have  visited  such  localities),  he  had  com- 
pared tlie  relative  recommendations  of  yet  more  dis- 
tant scenes  wherein  to  re-enter,  and  eventually  to 
wind  to  its  close,  the  falkntis  semita  vitce. 

If  the  theory  proposed  in  pp.  45-8  be  true,  these 
manifest  difficulties  are  at  once  removed  without  be- 
ing perceptibly  replaced  by  others.  The  showy  and 
expensive  courses  of  the  Schools,  their  rhetorical 
diatribes,  and  technical  subtleties,  could  have  offered 
little  attraction  to  an  humble  Roman  youth,  who 
does  not  appear  to  have  ever  entertained  the  most 
distant  intention  of  attempting  at  home  any  known 
course  of  professional  competition,  oratorical  dis- 


play, or  authorship  in  the  severer  departments  of 
Uterature  and  science.     But  to  the  private  studier  of 
books  and  men  (and  such  in  the  strictest  sense  we 
suppose  our  poet-philosopher  to  have  been)  Athens, 
as  a  residence,  must  have  offered  rich  and  rare  ad- 
vantages: such,  indeed,  as  a  cursory  visit  could  little 
pretend  to  realize.     To  describe  here  must  be  to 
poetise.     We  shall,  therefore,  call  upon  the  poet 
himself  to  speak ;  and  this  with  a  view  of  showing 
that  the  epithets  which  he  bestows,  and  the  allusions 
on  which  he  dwells,  are,  when  simply  developed, 
precisely  those  wliich   would  recommend  such  a 
place  as  the  chosen  residence  of  such  a  man :  that, 
in  fact,  directly  opposite  terms  would  express  his  per- 
sonal estimate  of  Athens  and  of  Rome.   The  follow- 
ing are  his  references  to  this  subject: 

Adjecerc  honce  paulo  plus  artis  Athena^ ; 
Scilicet  ut  possem  curvo  dignoscerc  rectum, 
Atque  inter  sylvas  Academi  qncvrere  verum. 
Dura  sed  emovere  loco  me  tempora  grato,  &c. 

Epis.  II.  ii.  43-0. 

Infrenium,  sibi  quod  vacuas  desumpsit  Athenas, 

Et  studiis  annos  septem  dedit,  insenuitque 

Libris  ct  curis,  statua  taciturnius  exit,  &c.     Id.  81-3. 

On  the  first  two  verses  of  the  former  extract  we 
shall  find  occasion  to  comment  hereafter  ;  and  the 
latter  has  already  occurred,  in  an  English  form,  in 
page  45.  But  a  conjoined  view  of  both  passages  in 
this  place  will  much  assist  our  inference.  Here,  then, 
we  have  the  true  secret  of  his  Athenian  predilections. 

f2 


f 


'I 


84 


BIOGRAPHICAL  COROLLARIES. 


Her  social  characteristics  were  bonce— Uithesome, 
witty,  frank :  her  local  scenes  were  vacucB—uncrowd- 
ed,  noiseless,  free:  here  too  bloomed  sylm (om  bard's 
delight)_those  hallowed  groves  whose  every  tree 
was  nature's  monument  of  classic  scene  or  honoured 
sage:  and  here,  if  anywhere,  was  it  feasible  for  the 
earnest  student  qucBrere  verum — to  glean  the  fruits 
of  intellects  of  richest  growth  at  the  source  itself  of 
their  luxuriance,  (for  here  chiefly,  at  a  time  when  dif- 
fusion of  thought  received  but  a  niggard  aid  from 
mechanical  contrivance,  would  convenient  access  to 
genuine  products  of  the  Grecian  mind  be  had);  and 
by  adding  to  communion  with  the  illustrious 'dead 
the  converse  of  the  philosophic  living,  thus  '  verce 
numerosque  modosque  ediscere  vitaj.' 

To  contrast  with  this  the  satirists'  unanimous 
description  of  Rome  would  give  a  ludicrous  result 
against  her.  'Tis  true  her  existing  majesty  and  ancient 
heroism  were  often  proud  themes  of  our  poet-philo- 
sopher's admiration.   But  he  never  seems  to  have  re- 
garded her  dwellings  as  his  home.   A  beloved  father's 
society  appears  to  have  supplied  his  chief  objective 
notion  of  an  earlyhome:  of  other  kindred  we  have  no 
account.  That  society  once  dissolved,  (seepa<re46) 
what  local  tie  remained  ?     The  aspect  of  the°whole 
social  world  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  appeared 
bleakly  uniform  to  the  friendless  youth.  The  resources 
of  literature  alone  would,  under  all  the  circumstances 
suggest  themselves,  even  apriore,  as  likely  to  supply 
to  him  a  present  solace  and  a  future  joy:  and  we  find 


FINAL  CONSIDERATIONS  FOR  THE  READER.         85 

in  the  event,  that  where  their  magnet  most  attracted, 
thither  his  steps  were  instinctively  directed.  _  _ 

The  candid  reader  is  now  fairly  in  a  position  to 
answer  to  himself  these  questions.-Does  this  inte- 
resting epoch  in  our  poet-philosopher's  Ufe  seem  to 
be  naturally  or  adequately  noticed  in  the  invaria- 
ble parlarwe  of  his  biographers-  '  He  repaired  to 
Athens,  after  the  example  of  the  young  nobility,  to 
complete  his  education'  ?     The  emphatic  phrases  m 
his  own  account  of  his  studies  and  their  effects- 
the  '  mse>iuit  libris  et  c«rtV-the  '  statua  taciturmus 
e^U'-oi  which  do  they  savour  more-the  society  ot 
the  lively  class,  or  the  solitude  of  the  lonely  closet? 
Do  not  even  the  active  forms  of  speech,  dignoscere 
and  qu<Brere,  imply  an  independent,  self-suggested 
exercise  of  will  and  effort  sufficiently  to  contrast 
with  the  passive  expressions  of  a  verse  which  im- 
mediately precedes-"  RomsB  nutriri  mihi  contigit, 
atque  docerir  &c.  ?     Would  not  allusion  to  professo- 
rial names  be  naturally  omitted  by  one  who  had  not 
the  popular  and  usiuil  scholastic  or  fashionable  fruits 
of  an  Athenian  residence  to  show  ?     And  is  not  the 
absence  of  all  mention  of  his  having  formed  any 
friendships  at  Athens  adequately  accounted  lor  by 
the  suppositions  which  our  theory  supphes-That  he 
had  only  entered  upon  the  incipient  stage  of  what  he 
probably  intended  to  be  a  life-residence:  that  the 
difference  between  his  pursuits  and  those  of  the  ge- 
nerality of  students  was  as  great  as  the  disparity  ot 
rank  was  wide:  that,  being  naturally  of  unobtrusive 


86 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS. 


CONCLUDING  OBSERVATIONS. 


87 


IN 


philosophic  converse'  to  wJ„vi,     ^°°^^^^  '"  ^'^^^ 

wiiole  than  anv  v^^;.i.  -^  i^esemble  a  consistent 

have  produce!  tt  '''"7  '""^'^  ''  '=^'"'^-'''*-« 

life  so  as  re'floe  IT  "n  ^'"''^  ^"  '^^  ^^^'^ 
sentation  than  etheTt,  e  T'  i"'  "'""'  "P"" 
artistic  gloss  or  t  e!l  ^         "''''  "^  ^"  «^<^^- 

""Jigested  Iss  th  ?  T^  '^"'"^^'^  ^'"^-"'^  °f  -^ 
butels  secu  e  ofT      ^  ^  ^''''°"  °^  *'"^  ^"^^le  tri- 

sacra  vatum.  ^^" ^  minister  ad 

the  treatn^en   ofth!^  'new-fangled,'  and 

least  that  tie  If^l^T  '''"'^^'  ^^  ^^  ^^^^^^  ^^^ 
^•espect  for  tL  eh  '     T        '  ^'^'^  ^^^^'^  becoming 

intractable      AndTfV  "'  heretofore  proved 

duable  to  fadtlere    ""'r'  '''  "^^^^'  ^^  ^--- 
Jail  ^vhere  no  one  has  jet  succeeded 


It  is  however,  to  be  distinctly  borne  in  mind,  that 
these  latter  paragraphs  have  reference  solely  to  the 
points  of  exception  specified  in  the  present  Section. 
To  disparage  Dean  Milrnan's  Life  of  Horace,  in  a  ge- 
neral sense,  would  be  to  herald  the  disparager's  own 
incompetence.     And  the  author  of  these  pages  has 
selected  that  particular  work,  whereon  to  ground  his 
dissent  from  the  biographers  in  general,  simply  be- 
cause it  represents  the  ablest  statement  of  the  oppo- 
site case  on  record;  and,  therefore,  any  point  of  his- 
torical fact  or  probability  successfully  established 
against  such  an  authority,  must  carry  accumulated 
force  as  against  any  other.  The  'Republic  of  Letters' 
is  a  republic  indeed,  and  knows  no  distinction  of 
ranks  save  that  which  each  individual  creates  for  him- 
self    Accordingly  the  opinions  and  statements  of 
several  eminent  authors  have  been,  and  shall  be,  can- 
vassed in  these  pages,  with  that  perfect  freedom  which 
is  the  undoubted  right  of  the  humblest  member  of 
the  Uterary  community ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the 
author  is  most  anxious  to  avoid  even  '  the  appearance 
of  evil'  in  the  shape  of  disrespect  to  any  established 
authority.     He  is  not  unaware  that  it  is  easy  to  cen- 
sure, and  still  easier  to  misunderstand;  but  he  hopes 
he  shall  not  in  any  instance  attempt  to  pull  down, 
without  manifesting  a  willingness,  at  all  events,  to 
assist  in  building  up. 


88 


SECTION  III. 

DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATinES,*  LYRICS,  AND 
EPISTLES  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED :  WITH  PRELIMINARY 
AND  GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  THE  CONTEXT. 

The  course  of  comment  here  intended  to  be  pursued 
generally  falls  in  with  the  order  of  publication  in  the 
original  Works,  subject  to  the  provisional  exceptions 
before  mentioned.  The  passages,  however,  belonging 
to  the  Fourth  Book  of  Odes,  are,  for  the  sake  of  un° 
tormity,  taken  m  conjunction  with  the  general  bodv 
of  the  Lyrics.  ' 

*  If  the  word  Satire  be  really  derived  from  the  La,uc  Satura, 
ts  apphcauon  may  be  suspected  to  have  been  originally  due  more 
to  jest  than  earnest.     The  term  seems  too  far-fetched  to  be  se- 
rious; although  it  may  have  been  seriously  'appropriated.'    Mo- 
dem cases  of  such  use  of  terms  that  were  at  first  bestowed  in 

of  fih  !  "'  TT':^  *°  '''''  ^"•■'^'^•^OP  °f  I>"W-'^  "Elements 

Sax  '  sXel  '■  '■     ''°'"''"'  ""  "^P^*"''"^  °^''»^-'"- 

"  Quidquid  agunt  homines  .  .  nostri  est/arra^o  libelU" 
At  all  events,  the  transference  of  the  notion  from  variously 
assorted  parcels  of  fruits  to  such  desultory  combinations  as  the 
earbest  satirical  poems  presented,  would  appear  to  have  been  ori- 
ginally suggested  rather  by  a  correspondence  in  variety  ofe^e,-nal 
II  IS  by  studied  diversity  of  verbal  composUion,  or,  in 
other  words    hymuced  ,netre,-tU.,  as  is  usually  supposed,  by 

he  multuude  of  subjects  intrinsically  included.    But,  of  course! 

he  extension  or  continuation  of  the  name  to  compositions  of  a 
uniform  metrical  aspect  would  imply,  even  afortiore,  that  much 
of  heterogeneous  matter  lies  beneath  the  surface. 


OBDEB  OF  PUBLICATION  HOW  FAR  IMPOETANT.    89 

The  Works  of  Horace,  (however  uncertain  the 
existing  plans,  or  hopeless  the  future  prospect,  of 
assigning  specific  dates  to  their  composition),  are 
now  generally  allowed  to  have  been  given  to  (as  it 
proved  in  event)  the  world  originally  in  the  follow- 
ing series: 

The  Two  Books  of  Satires. 

The  Epodes. 

The  First  Three  Books  of  Odes. 

The  First  Book  of  Epistles. 

The  Secular  Hymn. 

The  Fourth  Book  of  Odes. 

The  Second  Book  of  Epistles. 

Thus  far  the  labour  of  investigation  is  rewarded 
by  its  profit.     But  whether  we  now  have  the  con- 
tents of  the  separate  books  themselves  arranged  in 
the  order  in  which  they  were  written,  and  whether 
any  (and  if  any,  what)  portions  were  probably  known 
in  Roman  literary  circles  previous  to  formal  publica- 
tion, are  questions  more  curious  than  useful.    Sufiice 
it  to  say,  that  if,  with  Bentley,  we  suppose  the  seve- 
ral species  of  versification  to  have  engaged  the  author's 
attention  as  separately  in  time  as  the  books  vf eve  pub- 
lished, we  attribute  to  Horace  an  amount  of  system 
in  composition  which  is  incompatible  with  the  natural 
characteristics,  not  alone  of  him,  but  of  most  genuine 
poets.     Our  postulate  is  independent  of  all  contro- 
versy; and  permits  the  admirer  of  the  sparkling  ec- 
centricities of  Sanadon's   Nouvelle  Distribution,  or 
even  of  the  refined  complication  of  arbitrary  suppo- 


90 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


sition  Which  Dr.  Kirchner's  Tahdn  Chronohgica  dis- 
plays to  enjoy  his  taste  as  securely  as  the  unimagina- 
tive follower  of  Zurck  or  Baxter.  Let  it  be  merely 
granted  that  each  Satire  is  in  itself  a  complete  whole, 
beginning,  continuing,  and  ending  as  we  now  have  it 
and  o^  task  proceeds  at  once,  with  an  attempt  at 
Uamjication  of  these  apparently  desultory,  if  not 
erratic  productions. 

The   Satires  of  Horace,  though  heretofore   un- 
classed,  seem  capable  of  being  conveniently  ranked 
according  to  their  form,  under  the  following  desijr- 
nations:  ■  °         ° 

The  Discursive  {belonging  to  both  Books). 
The  Narrative  {peculiar  to  the  First). 
The  Dramatic  {peculiar  to  the  Second) 
The  Discursive,  which  constitute  the  most  nume- 
rous class,  may  be  described  as  Satires  in  which  the 
author  chieflyaddresses  observations, reflections  and 
reasonings  directly  in  any  way.     Of  these  there  are 
two  species,  which  may  be  called  respectively  Gene,'al 
and  Personal.     The  former  is  limited  to  the  First 
Three  Satires  of  the  First  Book,  and  the  Economic 
Percepts  borrowed  from  Ofellus  in  the  Second.    The 
atter  includes  the  Satires  conversant  especially  about 
the  authors  personal  circumstances,_namely,  the 
Fourth  of  the  First,  and  the  Sixth  of  each  Book- 
and  the  Lucilian  Critique  which  closes  the  First 
Book  and  relates  chiefly  to  the  comparative  merits 
ol  individual  authors. 

The  Narrative  are,  of  course,  those  wherein  pas- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  THE  SATIRES. 


91 


sages  of  incident  either  past,  or  supposed  to  be  so, 
are  related  throughout.  These  are,  the  Journey  to 
Brundusium;  The  Rencontre  of  Rupilius  and  Persius; 
The  Adventure  with  an  Intruder;  and  what  Swift 
would  have  called  The  Tale  of  a  Scare-crow. 

The  Dramatic  lay  a  scene  of  action,  by  introducing 
parties  by  name  to  the  reader,  who  are  supposed  to 
discourse,  describe,  or  act,  in  character.  With  these 
the  Second  Book  is  chiefly  occupied.  Their  subjects 
are,  The  Discussion  with  Trebatius;  The  Paradox- 
ical Illustrations  of  Damasippus;  The  Gourmanderie 
of  Catius;  The  Ironical  Revelations  of  Tiresias;  The 
Sarcastic  Brusqueries  of  Davus;  and  The  Convivial 
Jocularities  of  Fundanius. 

The  following  scale  will  exhibit  compendiously 
the  heads  to  which  we  propose  to  reduce  the 

VARIOUS  FORMS  OF  THE  HORATIAN  SATIRE. 


I 
Discursive. 


Nakrative.         Dramatic. 


General. 

* 


Personal. 


■^  r 


1.  2.  3. 

» . »    u 


2. 

-V- 


4.  6.  10. 

_)      1 ^ ) 


5.  7.  8.  9.    1.  3.  4.  5.  7.  8. 

V , i    > V ' 


1st  Book. 


2nd  Book. 


1st  Book.   2nd  Book.     1st  Book.    2nd  Book. 

A  slight  admixture  of  some  of  these  classes  with 
Others  is  occasionally  found.  But  the  boundaries  of 
the  preceding  division  are  plainly  discernible. 

Let  us  next  examine  whether  a  principle  of  classi- 
fication may  not  be  applied  with  advantage  to  a  cer- 
tain set  of  particular  passages  also,  commencing  with 
the  opening  of  the  First  Satire. 


92        THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 

That  the  very  first  paragraph  of  a  composition 
which  .8  received  as  the  earliest  known  effort  of  the 
muse  of  Horace  should,  after  so  many  centuries  of 
comment,  afford  any  good  ground  for  new  remark 
IS  a  statement  which  appears  to  pre-suppose  some' 
credulity  on  the  part  of  the  reader.     It  is  perhaps 
fortunate,  therefore,  that  in  onv first  attempt  to  dis- 
cover  such  in  it  we  are  enabled  partially  to  mitigate 
prejudication-  by  distributing  our  responsibility 
over  two  other  passages  taken  in  connexion  with 
this.   Let  us  then  imagine  the  three  passages  included 
respectively  within  the  following  limits,  to  be  now 
berore  us: 

Qui  FIT,  M^CENAS,  UT  NEMO,  QUAM  SIBI  SORTEM 
Pr^TEREA  NE  SIC  UT  QUI  JOCULARIA  R^DENS,  ETC. 

Ser.  J.  I.  U23. 

AmBUBAIARUM  COLLEGIA,  PHARMACOPOL^, 

SlQUIS  NUNC  QU^RAT-QUO  RES  HiEC  PERTINEt'?  ILLUC,  ETC. 

Ser.  I.  II.  1-23. 
Omnibus  hoc  vitium  est  cantoribus,  inter  amicos 

•      .       .      .    Nunc  ALiQuisDicAT  MiHi— Quid  Tu?  etc. 

Ser.  I.  III.  l_i9. 

The  v^CMlmv parallelism  of  these  (understood)  ex- 
tracts  has  strangely  escaped  notice,  although  even  an 
inspection  of  the  verbal  outlines  drawn  above  mic^ht 
suggest  it.  The  difficulty  of  establishing  a  con'se- 
cutive  connexion  of  parts  in  the  First  Satire  has 
been  felt;  but  we  find  no  attempt  made  to  ascertain 


PARALLELISM  OF  PRELUDES. 


93 


by  comparison  whether  any  of  the  other  Satires  may 
resemble  the  First  in  structure  sufficiently  to  furnish 
us  with  such  rules  of  the  author's  practice  as  may 
assist  in  solving  or  diminishing  the  objection.  And 
3^et  it  is  matter  of  common  experience  that  things 
will  seem  easy  and  symmetrical  when  considered  as 
parts  of  a  scheme  or  system,  which,  in  an  isolated 
view,  appear  irregular  or  unintelligible. 

It  has  been  just  now  laid  down,  that  the  First 
Three  Satires  belong  to  one  and  the  same  subdivi- 
sion of  a  separate  class.    This  reduction  may  here  be 
more  strictly  narrowed  by  observing  that,  as  formal 
compositions  of  Horace,  they  properly  constitute  that 
subdivision :  for  of  the  only  other  production  of  his 
pen  immediately  associated  with  them  in  our  classi- 
fication it  is  stated  by  himself,  "  nee  mens  hie  sermo^ 
sed  quce  prceeepit — rusticus^  ahnormis  sapiens  ;"  and 
we  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  inquire  how  far 
this  borrowed  character  has  been  understood  in  a 
sense  sufficiently  literal.     To  these  three  Satires  the 
three  given  extracts  seem  intended  to  stand  in  the 
relation  of  Preludes  ;  by  which  term  is  here  meant — 
a  light  and  easy  introduction  to  a  grave  subject,  less 
formal  than  a  preface,  and  less  serious  than  the  con- 
text. And  besides  this  general  similarity,  their  paral- 
lelism is  distinctly  traceable  through  the  following 
guiding  points.    1st.  They  are  nearly  equal  in  length. 
2nd.  They  are  equally  sepai^able  from  the  sequel;  for, 
although  some  commentators  have  assumed  a  desig- 
nation for  the  whole  subject  of  the  First  Satire  from 


94 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


the  opening  verses,  namely,  '  On  the  Discontent  of 
Men;  yet  by  most  the  main  argument  is  admitted  to 
be  different ;  while  the  prelude  to  the  Second  is  so 
independent  that,  the  sequel  being  omitted,  this  ex- 
ordium, with  the  moral  added,  forms  in  itself  a  suffi- 
ciently  complete  whole;  and  that  of  the  Third  relates 
to  matters  which  but  partially  concern  the  general 
disquisition  which  follows.  3rd.  They  are  equally 
connected  with  the  subsequent  arguments ;  which  will 
more  immediately  appear  from  a  review  of  the  gene- 
ral plan  of  the  whole  compositions. 

Their  subject  matter  may  be  assumed  to  be  fairly 
given  in  the  headings  adopted  in  the  Gesner-Zeu- 
nian  Edition;  thus,  the  First  is  '  in  Avaros,'  the  Se- 
cond '  in  3Iwchos;  the  Third  ^  in  Obtrectatores,  et 
supercilmm  Stoicum:    Now,  each  of  these  topics  is 
alike  introduced  by  a  lively  exhibition  of  some  cog- 
nate folly  or  vice.     For  instance,  placing  in  the  fore- 
ground of  the  First  Satire  such  a  picture  of  Discon- 
tent, the  author  thence  argues  against  Amrice.     He 
does  not  maintain,  as  might  at  first  appear,  that  mul- 
titudes who  complain  of  their  condition  would  not 
gladly  accept  the  position  of  others— [query,  are 
there  not  few  who  would  not  individually  change 
with  some  one  ?]— but  the  argument  appear  to  be  this : 
— *  The  true  ground  of  the  discontent  of  men  who 
toil  in  the  gainful  or  active  pursuits  of  life  is  not  to 
be  sought,  as  they  allege,  m  ^  reciprocal  Y>xed\\Qciion 
for  the  pursuits  of  each  other;  (for  as  they  would  be 
found  to  rest  as  little  satisfied  in  an  exchange  of  lots 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  FIRST  SATIRE. 


95 


were  such  a  general  experiment  possible,  the  whole 
amount  of  discontent  remains  constant) :  but  it  really 
consists  in  the  feverish  restlessness  with  which  they 
all  alike  pursue  a  common  object^  or,  in  the  insatiable 
nature  of  grasping  selfishness;  though  they  excuse 
their  felt  dissatisfaction  under  pretence  of  compara- 
tive hardships  appertaining  to  their  own  pursuits ; 
and  their  motives  of  eagerness  in  all  pursuits  by  the 
plea,  senes  ut  in  otia  tuta  recedant!     The  vices  and 
absurdities  of  the  avaricious,  (and  particularly  of 
the  worst  species,  the  miser),  thus  become  the  burden 
of  the  piece :  and  when  the  mere  folly  of  discontent 
is  naturally  lost  sight  of  in  these,  the  author  takes 
occasion  to  remind  his  readers,  toward  the  close,  that 
this  minor  trait,  from  the  illustration  of  which  he  had 
diverged,  is  to  be  understood  throughout  as  pervading 
the  miser's  character  in  its  most  aggravated  forms, 
even  so  as  to  harass  him,  in  addition  to  his  peculiar 
solitary  miseries,   by  an  interminable   contest  with 
others*  That  this  Satire,  which  the  eminent  modern 

*  In  connexion  with  the  Prelude  to  the  First  Satire,  we  may 
bestow  a  passing  glance  upon  the  strange  argument  of  Orellius, 
in  reference  to  two  remarkable  counterparts  of  it  which  are  found 
in  the  works  of  Maximus  Tyrius  (Diss.  5,  referred  to  by  Orellius 
as  2 1 ),  and  Himerius  (Eel.  20).  The  points  of  coincidence  are  so 
strongly  stamped  in  the  former, (marking  out  the  same  characters, 
the  same  dissatisfaction,  and  withal,  the  same  ultimate  refusal  to 
change),  that  any  one  might  naturally  conclude,  unless  positive 
cause  were  shown  to  the  contrary,  that  the  sentiments  of  the 
Latin  moralist  must  have  been  borrowed  by  the  Greek.  Not  so 
Orellius.     His  reasoning  runs  thus :  "  Non  credibile  est  ab  his 


96 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


commentator  Orellius  and  others  have  considered  so 
fragmentary  as  to  require  the  apology  of  being  per- 
haps one  of  the  author's  earliest  efforts  in  imitating 
the  Lucilian  medley,  is  thus  easily  reducible  to  a 

Sophistis  unquam  lectas  esse  Horatii  Satiras;   sed  vel  casu  in 
eundem  locum  inciderunt,  vel  antiquius  aliquod  exemplar  Gra- 
cum  ante  oculos  habuerunt."     That  is,  the  incredibility  of  either 
Sophist  having  seen  the  works  of  Horace  being  assumed,  we  are 
left  the  choice  indicated  by  the  dilemma,-'  either  both  indepen- 
dently chanced  to  fall  in  with  nearly  the  same  peculiar  association 
of  thought  (for  this  must  be  the  meaning  o(  eunderii  locum)  with 
Horace,  or  both  chanced  to  copy  the  same  part  of  some  Greek  mo- 
del  which  \tse\Uhanced  to  coincide  with  the  Horatian  argument ' 
A  rare  chapter  of  accidents:  in  which  the  question  whether  one 
of  the  Greek  authors  might  not  have  borrowed  from  the  other  is 
put  out  of  view.    Now,  Maximus  Tyrius  flourished  about  200 
years  before  Himerius;  and,  granting  the  latter  never  to  have 
seen  the  Western  World,  it  is  equally  asserted  and  doubted  that 
the  former  (about  A.  D.  146)  visited  Rome.     It  is  certain  the 
second  Antonine  was  a  hearer  of  his  lectures,  but  whether  at 
Rome  or  Athens  is  as  uncertain  as  it  is  immaterial.     In  either 
case  the  works  of  Horace  would  probably  have  become  known  to 
him,  even  from  converse  with  a  Latin  scholar  so  accomplished  as 
that  Emperor.     This  supposition  is  strengthened  by  a  similarity, 
apparently  much  greater  than  identity  of  subject  would  be  likely 
to  cause,  in  other  parts  of  the  works  of  Maximus,  not  only  to 
particular  trains  of  Horace's  reasoning,  but  also  to  the  Satires  of 
Juvenal  and  Persius:  (see  particularly  Diss.  4  and  19).     On  the 
whole,  the  reader  is  strongly  recommended  to  receive,  as  an 
elegant  Greek  paraphrase  of  the  opening  lines  of  Horace's  First 
Satir^  the  extract  which  Orellius  quotes,  but  rejects  as  such. 
Indeed,  in  general,  how  far  the  later  Greek  Moralists  may  have 
been  indebted  to  the  Roman  Satirists,  would  be  an  interesting 
Classical  inquiry. 


!\ 


STRUCTUllE  OF  SECOND  AND  THIRD  SATIRES.      97 

consistent  whole,  will  further  appear  from  its  simi- 
larity in  form  to  the  next  two. 

The  Second  Satire  likewise  opens  with  a  light, 
graphic  picture,  viz.,  of  The  Extravagance  of  Extremes: 
and  then  proceeds  to  satirize  a  grave  social  vice, 
whose  alUance  with  the  subject  of  the  Prelude,  though 
less  prominent  than  the  more  repulsive  traits,  is  yet 
preserved  throughout  in  nearly  the  same  proportion 
as  the  discontent  of  the  miser  is  a  subordinate  but 
still  a  sustained  characteristic  in  the  First.  To  dwell 
upon  this  Satire  is  unnecessary. 

The  tissue  of  frivolities  whose  review  forms  the 
substance  of  the  Prelude  to  the  Third  Satire,  would, 
at  first  sight,  seem  incapable  of  in  any  way  furnishing 
even  a  flimsy  scaffolding  (so  to  speak)  for  the  solid 
construction  of  practical  philosophy  whose  symmetry 
claims  a  universally  accorded  admiration  for  the  body 
of  this  Satire.  Whether  the  bearings  of  the  Prelude 
itself  have  been  duly  estimated,  and  its  general  in- 
tent adequately  understood,  shall  be  considered  in  its 
examination  as  a  separate  passage.  Suffice  it  here 
to  say,  that  from  a  playful  mood  of  banter  the  argu- 
ment proceeds, by  an  easy  gradation,  to  combat  deter- 
minedly the  fairness  of  the  common  judgments  past 
by  men  upon  each  other,  and  hence  to  refute  the  stern 
uncharitableness  of  certain  dogmas  of  the  Stoical  phi- 
losophy; thus  completing  the  analogy  which  we  seek 
to  establish  in  the  forms  presented  by  that  class  of 
compositions  that  are  found  in  immediate  succession 
(but  although  this  strengthens  our  case,  it  is  not 

G 


98 


THE  WORKS  OF  HOEACE  EXAMINED. 


I :: 


necessary  to  it)  at  the  opening  of  this  celebrated  de- 
partment of  ancient  Roman  literature 
_    A  further  instance  of  similarity  in  these  Preludes 
:s  reserved  for  notice,  until  the  full  analysis  of  the 

No"  :  h '^  '"'  '''f  ^°™^  "-^^^  --^^-tion 
Nor  are  other  cases  of  marked  parallelism  in  the 

works  of  Horace  wanting,  which  have  not  heretofore 
been  observed  upon:  but  their  citation  would  be  un 
productn-e  of  any  new  result.     The  exhibitfon  of 
parallel  passages  often  proves  no  more  than  that  an 

like  hLsTlf  TT  ^-"™«'--.  is  reasona^; 

Ike  h  mself,  and  that  the  harmonist  has  employed 

some  dd.gence.     But  as  far  as  combination  of  pTts 

and  of  ?r  1  'r''  "^^  ''''-'  °"^  -^'-^^  of  tC 
and  of  the  whole,  or  as  far  as  apparent  incongruities 

ma  gn.en  context  may  be  correctly  shown  to  be 
subordma;.  parts  of  a  plan,  and  therefore  llss  hki 
o  be  really  abnormal,  so  far  the  utility  of  a  true 
classxficatxon  ,vould  be  fairly  described  by  apply  n! 
the  words  of  the  bard  of  Mantua  (parce  Lm):' 

Non  ammum  modo  uti  pascat  prospectus  inanem 
Sod  qu.a  non  aliter  vires  dabit  omnibus  .quT' 

We  shall  now  advance  to  what  is  properlv  the 

rsTdethT'^^'^^'^^  -'"^^'  ^^ 
views  of  detached  portions  of  the  Horation  text 

taken  m  the  generally  admitted  order  of  publicaS' 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES. 


99 


Qui  fit,  Maecenas,  ut  nemo,  quam  sibi  sortem 
Seu  ratio  dederit  seu  fors  objecerit,  illa 

CONTENTUS  VIVAT ;  LAUDET  DIVERSA  SEQUENTES  ? 

Ser.  I.  I.  1-3. 

This  passage,  however  trite   and  elementary,    in- 
cludes two  peculiarities  for  which  the  best  syntac- 
tical authorities  have  not  made  adequate  provision. 
The  general  result  in  such  cases  is,  that  forms  of  ex- 
pression, which  might  have  been  fairly  included  under 
original  definitions,  are  made  to  stand  out  as  anoma- 
hes :  and  thus  exceptions  to  a  rule  sometimes  even 
seem  to  dispute  the  right  of  ascendancy  with  its  ex- 
amples ;  and  to  affect  the  authority  of  the  principle 
of  the  rule  itself     In  the  present  instance,  a  slight 
extension  of  the  compass  usually  assigned  to  tw^o  Fi- 
gures of  Speech  seems  much  required.    For  instance, 
were  some   such  general  description  of  the  figure 
Attraction  adopted,  as  the  following,—*  Attraction  is 
a  principle  of  sympathy  between  a  relative  and  its 
antecedent,  which  assimilates  their  case-forms;  pre- 
dominating in  proportion  to  the  flexibility  of  the  lan- 
guage, (being,  for  instance,  more  frequently  met  in 
the  Greek  than  in  the  Latin  language),  and  operating 
usually  by  accommodating  the  dependent  term  to  the 
principal,  but  occasionally  vice  versa.' — Such  expres- 
sions as  contentus  ilia  quam  sortem  above,  the  urhem 
quam  statuo  vestra  est  of  Virgil,  licet  esse  beatis^  &c., 
&c.,  would,  instead  of  being  treated  as  a  sort  of  m- 
pitis  minor  class,  hold  the  rank  simply  of  less  ordinary 

g2 


HI 


100 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


examples  of  a  principle  whose  operation  is  yet  uni- 
form.    The  preceding  definition  is  limited  to  suit  re- 
ceived opinions ;  but  the  question  might  not  prove 
unworthy  the  attention  of  scholars— whether  the 
effect  o^  Attraction  in  forms  of  speech  is  not  fairly 
comparable  in  principle  and  extent  with  that  of  ^5- 
sociation  in  modes  of  thinking;  and  whether  to  its 
influence,  which  is  a  power  of  Nature  herself,  a  con- 
siderabl}' greater  amount  of  the  symmetry  of  language 
be  not  probably  due  than  has  been  adequately  assigned 
to  It.     If  so,  its  efficacy  in  reducing  apparent  incon- 
gruities to  order  and  harmony  has  been  as  unaccount- 
ably as  it  has  been  generally  overlooked.    However, 
to  dilate  on  this  subject  here  would  be  inappropriate. 
We  shall  merely  add,  that  if  any  be  disposed  to  think 
the  term  *  sijmpathy  an  affected  expression,  it  may  be 
urged  in  extenuation  that  the  brilliant  phrase  "  Pa- 
thology of  the  Latin  Language/'  which  dazzles  our 
vision  towards  the  close  of  a  dark  and  weary  journey 
through  the  defiles  of  Donaldson's  Yarronianus,  has 
attracted  this  adventurous  term,  by  an  irresistible 
force  of  fascination. 

The  second  peculiarity,  namely,  the  action  laudet 
being  left  to  derive  a  positive  agent  from  the  nega- 
tive nominative  of  its  neighbour,  might,  perhaps,  be 
held  to  be  referable  to  the  same  principle  of  attrac- 
tion, were  it  seemly  to  attempt  the  development  of 
any  new  general  influences  in  a  work  so  confined  as 
the  present.  We  shall,  therefore,  merely  deal  with 
it  as  a  case  which  might  be  easily  rescued  from  the 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  101 

chaos  of  anomaly  by  a  more  comprehensive  inclu- 
siveness  in  the  definition  of  the  figure  Zeugma. 

And  first,  let  us  examine  the  accounts  furnished 
by  Zumpt  and  Scheller,  which  differ  very  much. 
That  of  the  former  is—'  Zeugma  is  that  form  of  ex- 
pression in  which  a  verb  which  grammatically  belongs 
to  two  or  more  nouns  is,  as  to  its  meaning,  applicable 
only  to  one.'     Scheller  says,—"  Sometimes  writers 
unite  two  substantives  to  one  verb,  or  one  verb  to 
two  infinitives,  when  properly  it  only  applies  to  one." 
But  the  converse,  which  is  the  case  now  before  us, 
is  not  at  all  provided  for  by  these.     From  Sanctius's 
remark,  indeed,  upon  Quinctilian's  definition  of  this 
figure,  called  by  him  Synezeugmenon,  and  supposed 
to  occur—"  quoties  vox  posita  in  una  oratione  in  cete- 
ris desideratur''—we  might  be  led  to  suppose  that  the 
case  was  fully  met.     But  from  the  general  treatment 
of  the  subject  by  both,  it  is  plain  that  by  vox  they 
meant  constantly  a  verb  or  adjective:  and  to  this  Peri- 
zonius's  comment  subscribes.     But  without  at  all 
entering  into  the  cumbrous  subdivisions  of  Prolepsis, 
prozeugma,  mesozeugma,  hypozeugma,  &c.,  might  not 
the  figure  be  briefly  defined  or  described  thus  ?— 
'  Zeugma  is  a  figure  which  assists  the  compendium  of 
speech  by  expressing  only  one  verb,  noun,  or  adjec- 
tive, as  connected  with  two  or  more  clauses  of  a  sen- 
tence, where  the  sense  requires,  and  will  easily  sup- 
ply, a  separate  term  of  the  given  class  to  each.'    The 
temptation  is  strong  to  add—'  and  is  itself  to  be^  re- 
ferred to  the  more  universal  principle  of  4  «racfi(?n.' 


lb 


102  THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 

Finally,  upon  the  second  of  the  three  given  verses 
it  may  be  observed  that  Horace  does  not  necessarily 
intimate  that  either  of  the  accounts  given  of  the  phe- 
nomenon is  correct.  But  by  seu-seu  he  rather  im- 
plies that  this  point  is  immaterial :  as  if  he  had  said, 
—'  settle  that  question  as  you  will/  The  existence' 
of  a  sors  humana  being  given,  the  theory  of  its  source 
IS  wholly  irrelevant  to  the  issue:— and  these  two  are 
not  the  only  accounts  that  have  been  given  of  it. 


HortE 

MOMENTO  CITA  MORS  VENIT  AUT  VICTORIA  L^TA. 

Ser.  1. 1.  7-8. 
The  force  of  this  statement  lies  in  the  word  aut 
The  seafaring  trader's  complaint  is  really  this  :  that 
the  triumphant  issue  of  a  battle  may  secure  the  sol- 
dier's fortunes,  while  the  successful  weatherincr  of  a 
storm  (in  which  cita  mors  may  be  equally  imminent) 
does  but  spare  him  (the  trader)  to  toil  anew. 

The  interpretations  given  of  the  phrase  horw  mo- 
mento  fluctuate  variously  between-m  a  moment  of 
an  hour,  m  a  moment  of  time,  in  a  brief  space  of  time, 
and,  in  the  brief  space  of  an  hour :  but  no  case  is  cited 
which  might  not  itself  raise  a  question  as  to  the  ex- 
actness of  the  notion  intended.  This  absence  of  un- 
doubted authority  particularly  affects  the  use  of  ^^m 
as  a  representative  of  time  in  general;  the  scanty 
(supposed)  instances  adduced  by  Riddle  and  others 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.        103 

being  evidently  disputable.  The  first  of  the  ver- 
sions given  is  a  weak  and  frivolous  expression:  but, 
without  any  objection  being  raised  against  the  last, 
may  not  momento  here  be  advantageously  taken  in 
its  original  acceptation;  and  the  phrase  rendered— 
'  by  the  preponderating  influence  of  a  single  hour 
(thrown  into  either  scale)  comes,'  &c.? 

The  fate  oicita  mors  being  alike  contingent  to  each, 
the  difference  between  the  parties  hinges  chiefly  on 
the  difference  of  the  issue  consequent  on  escape  from 
it :  and  even  the  impatient  murmur  of  the  mariner 
could  hardly  (in  the  diction  of  Horace)  exaggerate 
any  rapidity  of  victory  into  the  result  of  a  moment, 
(the  phrase  '  moment  of  victory  being  employed  in 
a  quite  different  sense):  but  an  hour  is  a  natural 
and  unstrained  measure  of  the  decisive  approaches 
ofttimes  of '  Death  or  Glory.' 


VOTIS  UT  pr^beat  aurem. 

Ser.  I.  I.  22. 

Votis  is  here  constantly  rendered  prayers.  An  unu- 
sual meaning  in  Latin  authors,  and  probably  con- 
fined to  Ovid.  The  interposition  of  the  Deus,  besides, 
was  unasked :  he  is  supposed  to  volunteer  *  En  !  Ugo 
faciam  quod  vultisJ  Hence,  Votis  should  be  simply 
translated  earnest  wishes,  hearts-desires,  as  in  Juvenal 
"  usque  ad  delicias  votorum."  Sat.  x.  291. 


1^ 


104 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


Perfidus  hic  caupo 

*  •  •  • 

Ser.  1. 1.  29. 
The   supposition   of  caupo   representing  the   juris 
legumque  peritus,  under  any  figurative  guise,  is  ad- 
verse  not  less  to  good  taste  than  to  sound  Latinity 
However  the   reading  is  of  undeniable  authority' 
and  yet  an  apparent  interruption  of  continuity  cer- 
tainly arises  from  the  appearance  of  this  new  cha- 
racter.    Might  the  restrictive  term  hic  assist  us? 
Might  It  mean  the  now  present  character :  that  is 
whose  vices  are  henceforth  to  be  the  theme  of  thJ 
piece?     Iri  shon/is  the  caupo  the  Avarus  f     The 
soldier  and  sailor  are  remote  characters.    The  /mV 
pentus  and  agri^ola,  however  appositely  instanced 
as  partakers  of  the  discontent  of  men  in  active  life 
are  too  generally  popular  to  prove  forcible  examples' 
of  a  mean  vice.     But  the  caupo  (a  class  which  Ho- 
race seems  to  have  peculiarly  disliked)  would  pro- 
bably furnish  as  frequent  and  as  strong  an  instance 
01  a  sordid  monopolist  as  could  be  brought  to  illus- 
trate that  genus.     At  the  same  time,  if  his  trade 
were  very  prominently  alluded  to  throughout,  it 
might  be  forgotten  that  a  general  vice,  and  not  the 
tendency  of  a  particular  'calling,  is  the  subject  of 
exposure      We  have  not  ground  for  establishing 
such  a  theory  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other;   but 
bearing  in  mind  that  caupo  is  not  a  vintner  exclu- 
sively, but  a  retailer  of  victuals  generally,  let  us  here 
bring  together  some  of  the  passages  from  the  main 


detached  passages  of  the  satires.      105 

argument  itself,  as  showing  the  general  tenor  of  its 
associations  : 

Cum  sibi  sint  congesta  dharia — ver.  32. 
Non  tuus  hoc  capiet  venter  plus  quam  meus— 46. 
Reticulum  panis  venales  inter — 47. 
Cur  tua  plus  laudes  cumeris  granaria  nostris — 53. 
Panis  ematur,  olus^  vini  sextarius — 74. 
Non     .     .     .     vappam  jubeo  ac  nebulonem — 104. 
Quodque  aliena  capella  gerat  distentius  uber — 110. 

uti  conviva  satur — 119. 

All  these  expressions,  (particularly  that  in  verse  74, 
if  it  be  taken  as  part  of  the  expostulation  of  the  Ava- 
rus  arguing  from  the  uses  of  money  in  favour  of  its 
abuses),  would  well  agree  with  our  supposition  of  his 
avocation.  However,  '  hoc  utcunque  animadversum 
aut  existimatum  erit,  baud  in  magno  equidem  ponen- 
dum  discrimine.' 


quid  referat  intra 
Naturje  fines  viventi,  jugera  centum  an 

MiLLEARTE? SeR.  I.  I.  49-51. 

The  first  introduction  of  the  important  term  Jim's 
into  the  argument,  upon  which  so  much  will  be  found 
to  hinge  hereafter,  appears  to  be  elegantly  borrowed 
from  the  agricultural  associations  of  the  immediate 
context.  As  if  it  were  said — '  He  who  lives  as  Na- 
ture's tenant  within  her  boundaries,  needs  not  to  la- 


106  TUB  WOKKS  OF  HOEACE  EXAMINED. 

hour  beyond  them.'  And  he  evidently  meant  further 
to  convey  that  those  lines  could  be  as  little  produced 
to  enclose  the  jugera  centum  as  the  jugera  mUle. 

The  general  doctrine  here  inculcated  is  felicitously 
expressed  by  our  own  poet,  Goldsmith— 
"  Man  wants  but  little  here  below,  nor  wants  that  little  long." 


H 


At  bona  pars  hominum,  decepta  cupidine  falso 
'  Nil  satis  est,'  inquit,  <  quia  tanti  quantum  habeas  sis.' 

Seb.  1. 1.  61-2. 
This  argument  of  the  bom  pars,  with  its  suppressed 

t  !Tf  ?'  ^^^^""'^  'P^*"^""*  ^°°"Sh  in  the  dress  of 
Ji-AE  oi  the  first  figure,  thus: 

No  gradation  of  favourable  estimate  of  us  in  respectable 
society  IS  at  any  time  such  that  we  should  not  strive  to 
increase  it ; 

The  amount  of  our  property  is  a  gradation  of  favourable 

estimate  of  us  in  respectable  society ; 
Therefore  the  amount  of  our  property^is  never  such  that 

we  should  not  strive  to  increase  it. 

However,  without  barring  either  premiss  by  a  ne- 
ffatur  the  reader  will  feel  no  difficulty  in  refuting 
the  syllogism  by  applying  to  it  logically  the  test  which 
Horace  himself  supplies  above. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.         107 


At  si  cognatos  nullo  natura  labore 

quos  tibi  dat  retinere  velis  servareque  amicos, 

Infelix  operam  perdas,  ut  si  quis  asellum 

In  CAMPO  DOCEAT  PARENTEM  CURRERE  FR.aiNIS. 

Ser.  I.  I.  88-91. 

Upon  this  passage,  which  exhibits  a  great  variety 
of  form  in  different  editions,  and  has  called  forth 
several  interpretations,  which  have  each  and  all  con- 
siderable claims  to  adoption,  it  is  merely  intended 
here  to  offer  a  new  conjecture,  without  prejudice  to 
any  received  opinion. 

Query,  then,  may  not  retinere  and  servare  be  really 
designed  to  imply  coercion  or  restraint^  rather  than, 
as  all  commentators  suppose,  ^^reservation  ?  The 
former  certainly  yields  the  derivative  retinaculum  in 
this  sense;  and  the  latter  seems  to  be  borrowed  from 
the  habits  of  the  Avarus.  Query,  also,  has  the  ma- 
nifest contrast  intended  between  nullo  labore  dat  in 
the  protasis,  and  infelix  operam  perdas  in  the  apodosis 
been  turned  to  adequate  account  ?  Now,  be  it  ob- 
served, that  the  above  extract  is  immediately  pre- 
ceded by  the  statement, 

Miraris,  cum  tu  argento  post  omnia  ponas. 
Si  nemo  praistet  quem  non  merearis  amorem : 

and  the  following  paraphrase  may,  perhaps,  advan- 
tageously present  itself,—'  As  nature  bestows  upon 
you  kindred  nidlo  labore  \tuo'],  so  the  best  offices  of 
life  must  be  spontaneous— \^'  Kmioi  quos  neque  armis 


ifi' 


$ 


108     THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINEB. 

cogere,neque  auro  parare  potes;  officio  et  fide  pariun- 
tur."  Sall.]  :— if,  therefore.you  toil  and  spare,  partly, 
as  you  say,  ut  habeasqui  assideat  and  soforth,and  thus 
labour  to  hold  your  friends  by  restraints  of  expec- 
tancy {retinere),  and  to  keep  them  in  reserve  for  mere 
selfish  purposes,  as  you  keep  your  gold  {servareY  the 
result  of  your  laboured  efforts  is  likely  to  prove  as 
clumsy  and  futile,  as  though  you  should  attempt  to 
accustom  to  easy  fleetness  in  harness  an  animal  whose 
nature  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  resist  artificial  training.' 
The  advantage  of  this  interpretation  would  consist  in 
connecting  the  comparison  by  a  more  easy  and  natural 
association  with  the  context,  than  regarding  it  as  an 
arbitrary  sign  of  mere  abstract  impossibility  can  do 
In  the  latter  view,  it  seems  far-fetched  and  inapposite- 
in  the  former,  that  is  where  a  parallel  train  of  ideas 
presents  itself,  our  poet's  simile  will  bear  comparison 
with  a  cognate  one  which  Homer  introduces  as  forci- 
bly as  unexpectedly 

'Oe  S'  «r  Svoc  Trap-  5po«pav  \i,v  i^tii^aro  na7Sac 

*  •  •  •  . 

"Qg  TOT  iTTHT  AtavTa.     K.  r.  A. 


Denique  sit  finis  qu^rendi;  '^''''^^=1  habeas  PTTt. 

QUOQUE  J  ^^^^AS  PLUS, 

Pauperiem  metuas  minus;  et  finire  laborem 
Incipias,  parto  quod  avebas 

p„„  ,  Ser.  1. 1. 92-4. 

Commentators  leave  it  optional  with  readers  to 
render  the  first  clause  here  as  intending  either  a 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.         109 

present  or  a  prospective  '  end,'  forgetting  that  the  ad- 
monition, in  the  former  sense,  could  not,  in  the  na- 
ture of  things,  apply  to  one  case  out  of  a  thousand 
in  which  the  remaining  clauses  of  the  advice  convey 
a  beneficial  lesson;  though  the  whole  is  plainly  in- 
tended to  be  equally  general. 

In  such  a  sense  it  must  presuppose  a  similarity  of 
circumstances  in  each  individual  addressed  to  those 
of  the  Avarus,  (and  who  will  suppose  this  in  his  own 
instance  ?).  In  the  other  acceptation,  it  is  irrespec- 
tive of  all  particular  limitations,  and  seems  merely 
intended  to  be  a  wholesome  corrective  of  the  previ- 
ous fallacy — '  Nil  satis  est.' 

But  the  real  difficulty  in  the  last  qX^m^q— incipias 
finire,  parto  &c.,  has  been  left  wholly  untouched.    If 
finire  mean  to  end,  how  can  a  man  begin  (as  if  by  a 
process)  to  end  anything  ?     To  say  that  the  notion  of 
etiding  may  naturally  include  the  drawing  toward  a 
close  is  irrelevant.     The  Latin  verb  finire,  when  it 
signifies  to  end,  means  so  absolutely.     Again,  \i finire 
be  taken  to  signify  to  limit  or  circumscribe.why  should 
one  then  only  begin  to  abridge  labour,  when  the  whole 
object  of  labour  shall  have  been  gained  ?     A  defined 
limit  being  given  by  the  first  clause,  one  would  sup- 
pose that  the  struggle  of  the  race  should  be  abso- 
lutely commensurate  with  the  reaching  of  this  goal. 
We  may  safely  approach  a  solution  by  rejecting 
the  former  acceptation  assigned  to  finire  altogether. 
To  connect  it  with  incipias  in  such  a  sense  would  be 
to  adopt  a  phrase  without  meaning  or  parallel;  for 


110  THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 

the  English  oxymoron—^  the  beginning  of  the  end'— 
could  scarcely  be  quoted  in  point. 

The  several  meanings  of  the  verb  jinio  will  be 
found  to  proceed  from  the  radical  notion  in  the  fol- 
lowing order:— 1st.  To  marl  out  by  a  boundary,  sim- 
ply. 2nd.  To  restrain  within  boundary  something 
which  has  a  tendency  to  exceed.  3rd.  To  limit,  de- 
fine, or  fix  stationarily  to  small  compass,  or  to  a  point 
4th.  To  end,  absolutely. 

Of  all  these  the  second  will  naturally  suggest  it- 
self as  the  most  applicable  to  the  practicalTearincr 
of  the  subject.    The  active  habits  are  not  trained  to 
maturity  to  be  suddenly  suspended  for  ever  in  a  mo- 
ment :  the  constitution  of  nature  is  opposed  to  this. 
Now,   by  merely  erasing  the   comma-mark  before 
parto,  and  thereby  converting  that  word  into  the 
causal  case,  instead  of  the  case  absolute,  the  sense 
would  run  thus:-*  Begin  to  bound  and  restrict  your 
toil  by  (or,  in  proportion  to)  that  being  realized  (no 
doubt,  gradually),  which  you  originally  fixed  as  the 
amount  of  your  desires.'  Of  course  it  would  be  only 
when  danger  of  miscarriage  in  the  final  issue  was 
past,  and  when  a  fair  approximation  was  being  made 
to  the  sum  total,  that  such  influence  of  the  partum 
should  sensibly  operate.    But  these  conditions  being 
supposed,  what  can  be  more  according  to  right  reason 
than  that  a  man  should  begin,  with  the  first  substantial 
earnest  of  his  reward  being  secured,  proportionately 
to  narrow  and  restrict  the  labour  of  acquisition,  as 
the  mariner  begins  to  shorten  sail  when  within  the 
compass  of  the  wished-for  haven? 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.        Ill 

In  this  view  the  mode  of  expression  may  be  com- 
pared with  a  phrase  in  Carm.  I.  xi.  6-7, — ' .  .  Spatio 
brevi  spem  longam  reseces  .  .;'  and  even  the  materials 
of  a  sound  aphorism  may  perhaps  be  fairly  gathered 
in  the  preceding  sense, — '  parto  laborem  finias.' 


Pergis  pugnantia  secum 
Frontibus  adversis  componere  :  non  ego,  avarum 
Cum  veto  te  fieri,  vappam  jubeo  ac  nebulonem. 
Est  inter  Tanaim  quiddam  socerumque  Viselli. 
Est  modus  in  rebus  ;  sunt  certi  denique  fines, 
Quos  ULTRA  citraque  nequit  consistere  rectum. 

Ser.  I.  I.  102-7. 

The  paraphrase  of  the  first  clause  given  by  Orel- 
Yiv^^—^^  Non  desinis  contraria  ita  componere  ut  e  regi- 
one  sibi  opposita  sint!'  [how  otherwise  could  contraria 
be  placed?],  and  the  meaning  assigned  to  the  fourth 
Yerse—'' Multum  inter  se  differebant  isti  duo  homines,'' 
fully  exemplify  the  views  adopted  by  even  the  best 
commentators.  But  whether  they  have  not  diverged 
as  far  from  the  true  mean  as  the  interrogator  in  the 
context,  who  could  see  nothing  in  the  case  but  ex- 
tremes, is  a  point  awaiting  the  reader's  decision. 

The  minor  questions,  viz.,  the  immediate  connex- 
ion of/ron/i6w5  adversis,  and  the  conjectured  character 
of  the  difference  between  the  two  obscure  nonde- 
scripts named  in  the  text,  about  which  they  have  all 
principally  concerned  themselves,  arc  utterly  imma- 


112 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


terial  to  the  main  argument,  whose  bearing  they  have 
over  ooked.  The  author's  object  is  simpl/and  plainly 
to  estabhsh  the  b^fide  positive  existence  of  a  .2 
between  given  extremes,  which  (to  borrow  a  portion 

h  nder^r  "^'r  "^  S^''-^''^)  "-0"^  eternally 
hinder  he  approach  of  two"  such  being  made,  to  I 

own  e.dusu.n.     Thus  the  expression  J  ,Mm  Z 

ter^s  not  a  mode.of  conveying  by  ^oJthe  notion 

rn^iturn  drffemni,  but  is  tke  assertiLf  this  true  mtn 

(the  doubtfulness  of  an  iUustration  in  no  wise  con' 

Itself  Its  suitability  merely  affects  clearness):  and 
accordingly  the  pretensions  of  the  following  simple 
paraphrase  to  supersede  altogether,  in  this  Instance, 
the  received  notions,  is  submitted  with  some  confi- 

ifnothingintervened),thingswhoseincreasingproxi. 
mity  infers  an  increasing  [metaphorically  expressed] 
repulsion    /do  not  (e^o,  emphatic)  so  advise:  there 

m  rebus.  This  is  the  same  principle  which  he  else- 
where enunciates  thus:  "Virtus  est  medium  vitiorum 
et  utnnque  reductum.'^^Pis.  I.  xvm  9 

In  the  last  clause  the  copulative  gue  connects,  not 

in  the  elliptical  form,  namely-,.,,  ultrane.uit  fnd 
guos  crtra  neqmt,  &c,  and  may  perhaps  be  rendered 

fixed  hmits;  beyond  as  also  on  the  nearer  side  (thit 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  113 

is,  relatively  to  your  character)  of  which  propriety 
can  find  no  abiding  place.'  The  locus  of  all  mode- 
ration is  neither  ultra  nor  citra,  but  intra,  fines.  Com- 
pare '  quid  referat  intra  naturae  fines  viventi,  &c.' 
Supr. 


Omnibus  hoc  vitium  est  cantoribus,  inter  amicos 
Ut  nunquam  inducant  animum  cantare  rogati, 
Injussi  nunquam  desistant.     Sardus  habebat 
Ille  Tigellius  hoc.     C^sab,  qui  cogere  posset, 
Si  peteret  per  amicitiam  patris  atque  suam,  non 

QUIDQUAM  PROFICERET  :  SI  COLLIBUISSET,  AB  OVO 

Usque  ad  mala  iteraret*  Io  Bacche,  modo  summa 
Voce,  modo  hac  resonat  qu^  chordis  quatuor  ima. 

Nil  jequale  homini  fuit  illi  :  sjepe  velut  qui 
Currebat  fugiens  hostem;  pers^pe  velut  qui 

0  JUNONIS  SACRA  FERRET :  ALEBAT*  S^PE  DUCENTOS, 

S^PE  DECEM  SERVOS :  MODO  REGES  ATQUE  TETRARCHAS, 

Omnia  magna  loquens;  modo  sit  mihi  mensa  tripes,  et 
Concha  salis  puri,  et  toga  qu^  defendere  frigus 

quamvis  crassa  queat. 

Decies  centena  dedisses 

HUIC  PARCO,  PAUCIS  CONTENTO,  QUINQUE  DIEBUS 

Nil  erat  in  loculis:  noctes  vigilabat  ad  ipsum 

Mane  :  diem  totum  stertebat.     Nil  fuit  unquam 

♦ 
Sic  impar  sibi.  „ 

Nunc  aliquis  dicat  mihi,  *  quid  tu  .'' 

Nullane  habes  vitia?'     Immo  alia  et  fortasse  minora. 

Ser.  I.  III.  1-20. 

In  these  verses,  whose  bearing  upon  the  context  has 
been  already  discussed  in  a  different  relation,  the 

*  Dr.  Bentley's  grounds  of  preference  for  iteraret  and  alehcd, 

H 


114 


THE  WORKS  or  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES. 


115 


I 


author  IS  supposed,  by  all  his  expositors,  actually  to 
ridicule,  (as  he  appears  to  do),  certain  oddities  of  a 
class  in  general  (cantores),  and  of  one  individual  espe- 
cially.     But  it  may  be  more  than  suspected  that  the 
real  point  of  ridicule  lies  in  a  different  direction 
(while  it  must  be  admitted  that  Tigellius  and  simi- 
lar characters  are  in  effect  ridiculed  here),  and  that 
a  true  vein  of  covert  irony  runs  throughout  this 
exordium.  In  this  view  it  would  be  intended  to  ex- 
hibit indirectly  a  specimen  of  the  littleness  of  the  occa- 
sions which  are  sufficient  to  evoke  the  world's  censo- 
rious strictures;  and  would  correspond  in  rhetorical 
form  with  the  well-known  passage,  "  Sequor  hunc 
J^ucanus  an  Appulus  anceps,"  &c.  Seb.  If  i  34.9' 
And  as  the  poet,  in  the  latter  place,  introduces  with 
a  sudden  and  informal  appositeness  an  indirect  sam- 
ple of  certain  peculiarities  in  the  style  of  Lucilius 
so,  in  that  now  before  us,  he  may  suppose  hirn^elf,  in 
the  character  of  a  worldly  backbiter,  to  pour  forth 
a  torrent  of  voluble  detraction,  which  at  length  ex- 
hausts Itself  in  the  ^nnl-' nil  fuit  unguam  sic  in>par 
siOi,  )ust  as  now-a-dayswe  often  hear  a  tirade  of 
gossip  ending  with-'  Di.1  you  ever  in  your  life  hear 
such  apiece  of  so  and  so  f     The  moral  of  all  this 
however  immediately  follows  in  the  sober-'  Nunc 
ahquis  dicat  mihi:  Quid  Tu?  nullane,'  &c 
Although  it  does  not  accord  with  the  plan  of  these 

instead  of  the  common  citaret  and  haheiat,  are  so  strong  that  it 
seems  strange  these  latter  readings  shonld  ever  again  have  1 
peared,  at  least  in  British  editions  of  any  note. 


pages  that  much  of  their  space  should  be  occupied  by 
introduction  of  text,  yet  the  foregoing  long  extract  is 
given  in  full,  in  order  that  the  reader  may  examine  it, 
clause  by  clause,  in  reference  to  this  theory,  and  com- 
pare the  diflFerence  of  effect  at  each  step  between  the 
former  acceptation  and  that  here  proposed.  It  would 
also  somewhat  strengthen  our  position  to  imagine 
the  foibles  of  several  of  his  neighbours  to  pass  in  re- 
view through  the  field  of  the  (supposed)  censor's 
magnifier:  and  a  consecutive  review  of  all  the  clauses 
will  enable  the  reader  to  judge  whether  any  neces- 
sity exists  for  supposing,  with  the  commentators,  that 
Tigellius  alone  is  alluded  to  throughout.  Why  should 
iUi  in  verse  9  be  identical  with  huic  in  verse  16,  ex- 
ceptionally to  general  usage?     Or  why  must  either 
represent  Tigellius?    On  the  contrary,  as  the  analogy 
furnished  by  the  Preludes  of  both  the  preceding  Sa- 
tires largely  warrants  the  reader  in  giving  the  bene- 
fit of  any  doubt,  which  he  may  now  feel,  in  favour 
of  the  supposition  of  several  characters  being  in- 
tended, the  extract  has  been  here  printed  in  subdi- 
visional  paragraphs.     It  may  be  further  observed, 
that  as  in  this  light  the  third  paragraph  will  close 
with  nearly  the  same  reflection  by  which  the  second 
is  introduced,  the  awkwardness  is  thus  avoided  of 
applying  the  same  sentiment  twice,  within  such  a 
narrow  compass,  to  the  same  instance.  And  the  chief 
difference  between  this  Prelude  and  the  two  others 
would  lie  in  the  fact,  that  whereas  the  nature  of  the 

H  2 


I 


116 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


i|  ! 


subject  requires  that  those  be  understood  directly 
the  sense  and  point  of  this  seem  to  be  not  only  sharp-' 
ened  but  directed  by  an  ironical  acceptation 

But  another  question  yet  remains.    Is  the  Sardus 
TrgelUus  here  spoken  of  the  same  with  Hermogme, 
rigellms  who  occurs  elsewhere?     On  the  one  hand 
It  IS  exceedingly  strange  that  two  apparently  noto- 
rious persons  should  have  existed  at  the  same  time 
so  hke  in  name,  profession,  skill,  general  character.' 
and  eyen  particular  obnoxiousness  to  Horace.     On 
the  other,  ■  the  death  of  the  singer  Tigellius' appears 
to  be  recorded  in  the  beginning  of  the  Second  Satire, 
and  his  social  freaks  are  spoken  of  in  the  present  Pre- 
ludeasa  thingthat '  was:'  whence Sanadon, Desprez, 
and  Kirchner,  haye  argued  most  seriously  on  the  ne- 
cessity of  supposing  two  Tigellii;  and  the  palpable 
expedient  of  imagining  one  of  them  to  haye  been  son 
adopted-son,  or  eyen  freedman  of  the  other,  has  been 
duly  resorted  to.     Yet  mention  of  Herrnogenes,  as  a 
then  existing  first-class  singer,  occurs  further  on  in 
the  same  composition,  in  the  informal  style  of  allu- 
«.«  which  would  naturally  apply  to  a  previously  in- 
troduced character:  and  Smith's  System  of  Classical 
Biography,  a  generally  well-informed  authority  takes 
no  notice  of  the  French  theory;  so  that  its  adoption 
IS  not  a.  all  events  a  matter  of  course,  as  Milman  and 
others  seem  to  imagine.     If  we  can  now  substitute 
a  less  for  a  more  improbable  conjecture,  we  shall 
have  achieved  the  utmost  that  such  a  case  admits,  or 
would  compensate. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES. 


117 


Let  us  just  place  together  the  few  sentences  which 
bear  upon  this  point: 

1.  Ambubaiarum  collegia,  pbarmacopolae, 
Mendici,  mima^,  balatrones,  hoc  genus  omne 
Msestum  ac  soUicitum  est  cantoris  morte  Tiyelli ; 
Quippe  benignus  erat Ser.  I.  ii.  1-4. 

2.  The  first  pararagraph  of  the  present  heading. 

3.  Ut  quamvis  tacet  Hermogenes^  cantor  tamen  atque 
Optimus  est  modulator Id.  1 29-30. 

This  Hermogenes  was  notoriously  named  Tigel- 
lius, ("  Fannius  Hermogenis  laedat  con  viva  TigelliJ' 
Ser.  I.  X.  80.):    and  it  requires  no  very  violent 
strain  of  fancy  to  suppose  the  silence  of  Hermo- 
genes, mentioned  in  No.  3   above,  to  be  in  some 
way  connected  with  the  fitful  muteness  ascribed  to 
Tigellius  in  the  beginning  of  the  Satire.     Slighter 
coincidences  than  this  have  ere  now  helped  identi- 
fication.    Now,  if  Tigellius,  whose  eminence  in  the 
musical  profession  and  intimacy  with  the  two  Caa- 
sars  are  allowed  on  all  hands,  should,  with  the  capri- 
ciousness  of  a  spoiled  favourite,  have  not  only  been 
accustomed  to  coquet  with  his  convivial  admirers, 
but  should  also  have  sullenly  refused  for  some  long 
period  to  gratify  the  public  ear,  the  cantor  Tigellius 
might  be  humourously  supposed  by  a  humourous 
writer  to  be  in  one  sense  defunct,  while  in  another 
the  tacens  Hermogenes  was  still  a  veritable  exponent 
of  his  power.    The  imaginary  mourning  of  the  corps 
dramatique,  constituting   probably   his    stock-com- 
pany,  whose  occupation  for  the  time  was   '  gone,* 


m 


i\ 


118 


THE  WORICS  OF  HOKACE  EXAMINED. 


Il 


and  the  treatment  of  his  whimsicalities  as  a  thina 
'  past  and  fled,'  will  hardly  appear  either  veiy  point'- 
less  or  impossibly  outre,  to  any  one  who  has  read 
bwifts  Death  of  Partridge:  nor  is  every  expression 
of  a  writer  like  Horace  to  be  set  down  as  spoken 
m  sober  earnest  unless  he  himself  apprizes  us  that 
he  jests.  But  however  this  may  be  judged  of,  the 
reader  will  please  to  bear  in  mind,  that  the  weight  of 
the  conjecture,  if  any,  is  on  the  side  of  simpli/ication 
ot  a  real  though  unimportant  perplexity. 

In  the  answer  which  the  author  supposes  to  be 
rendered  to  the  question-'  Quid  tu?  Nullane,'  &c 
the  reading  et,  as  distinguished  from  Aldus  Manu- 
tiuss  ^haud:  has  the  unquestionable  sanction  of  the 
MSS.;  and  yet  the  sentiment  is  enfeebled  by  it  whe- 
ther we  suppose  the  reply  to  proceed  from  Horace 
directly,  or  from  the  character  which  we  have  ima- 
gined him  to  assume  for  the  moment.     This  may 
perhaps  be  relieved  by  understanding  et  to  be  taken 
m  sole  connexion  with  fortasse,  and  including  both  in 
parenthesis;  when  the  sense  would  run— 'yes,  others 
(and  tis  a  chance  if)  of  less  magnitude.'     But  query 
without  this  refinement,  may  not  minora  mean  more 
paltry,  more  j>etty-of  a  lower  grade?    And  it  must 
be  admitted  that  some  of  the  foults  brought  forward 
m  the   preceding  verses   are   somewhat   childish. 
This  would  certainly  be  an  undignified  confession,  if 
understood,  in  the  usual  way,  as  the  direct  reply  of 
him  who  is  about  to  lecture  so  gravely  upon  morals, 
(although  perhaps  not  more  undignified  than  some 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  119 

of  the  previous  strictures  commonly  attributed  to 
Horace  propria  joersowa) :  but  taken  as  a  suggestion  of 
what  must  be  the  answer  of  the  backbiter  if  he  speaks 
truly,  it  harmonizes  well  with  our  previous  theory. 
Aiid  be  it  observed  that  Kirchner  does  in  flict 
regard  the  sentence,  not  as  uttered  by  the  party  in- 
terrogated, but  as  ironically  suggested  by  the  ques- 
tioner.    This  is  important  even  although  he  does  so 
evidently  in  order  to  cover  the  difficulty  of  the  non- 
adversative  et,  which  we  have  just  now  endeavoured 
to  remove  by  a  more  simple  process:  for  while  the 
objections  which  Orellius  makes  to  the  extent  to 
which  he  pushes  his  supposition  are  undoubtedly 
valid,  still  the  name  of  such  an  acute  critic  as  Kirch- 
ner must  mitigate  one  of  the  counts,  at  all  events,  of 
the  indictment  for  innovation  which  is  probably  by 
this  time  beginning  to  swell  to  a  monster  compass 
against  us. 


Mbnius  absentem  Novium  cum  cAKPEitEX, '  Heus  tu,' 

QUIDAM  AIT,  '  IGNORAS  TE?  AN  UT  IGNOTUM  DARE  NOBIS 

Verba  put  as?'    '  Egomet  mi  ignosco,'  M^nius  inquit. 

Ser.  I.  III.  21-3. 

A  VERY  pointless  reply  of  Msenius,  as  generally  un- 
derstood, and  irrelevant  withal.  But  if  it  be  true 
that  '  gentle  dulness  ever  loves  a  joke,'  perhaps  it 
will  here  gently  permit  itself  to  be  converted  into 
one.   Let  us  now  suppose  the  following  dialogue:— 


n 

'  Ik 


120 


TUE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


Ques.  '  Ignoras  te?'   Ans.  '  Ig-nosco  mV    Ques.  '  An 
ut  ignotum  nobis;  &c.  ?     Ans.  (may  be  supposed) 

*  Ignotum  est  mi.'    M^nius  admits  the  soft  impeach- 
inent  of  being   a  practical  stranger  to  the   adage 

*  TuwOi  aeavTov:  in  terms  which  imply  a  jestingly 
complacent  ignoring  of  his  own  faults,  ThoughV 
notus  in  the  latter  sense  could  not  be  applied  to  a 
Terson,  (and  therefore,  instead  of  ^  Ignotus  sum  mi; 
an  impersonal  form  is  here  employed,  as  in  Ter 
Adel.  III.  4.  2S.—^^  Ignotum  est,  creditum  est,"  &c.)' 
yet  the  common  participial  form  is  used  by  Hirtius' 

(a  respectable  classicahvriter,  and  the  same  who  even-' 
tually  became  one  of  the  two  last  of  the  Kom an  Repub- 
lican Consuls,  properly  so  called),  in  Bell.  Gall.  31 

.  .  .  "tamens£Epease(JulioCa3sare)fugatis,pulsis, 
perterntisque  et  vitam  concessam,  et  ignota  peccata;' 
&c.  Some  puns  are  so  exceedingly  bad  that  they 
amuse  as  much  as  the  best;  though  from  a  different 
cause.  And  thus  the  jest  here  would  inevitably  re- 
coil upon  Maenius  himself,  and  all  such  characters  as 
he  represents. 


Nam  VITUS  nemo  sine  nascitur  :  optimus  ille  est 
Qui  minimis  urgetur 

Ser.  I.  III.  68-9. 
The  singularly  meagre  sentiment  which  general  con- 
sent attributes,  by  an  unaccountable  oversight,  to  the 
latter  member  of  the  above  sentence,  is  held  over  for 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  121 

examination  in  Section  IV.,  which  shall  be  reserved 
exclusively  for  the  discussion  of  a  certain  class  of 
propositions  to  which  this  seems  to  belong.     Lest 
however  the  reader  may  too  hastily  imagine  that 
there  cannot  be  anything  very  particular  in  the  case, 
it  is  desirable  that  he  should  here  just  consider  for  a 
moment  what  it  is  that  the  usual  version  of  the  pas- 
sage exactly  means—''''  He  is  best  who  is  cumbered 
by  least  faults"— that  is—'  Every  man  is  in  propor- 
tion better  than  if  he  were  worse.'     Is  this  a  senti- 
ment worthy  of  a  Eoman  poet-philosopher?   At  the 
lowest  estimate,  is  it  in  keeping  with  the  plain  prac- 
tical good  sense  of  Horace?     It  is  probable,  on  the 
contrary,  that  there  is  no  reader  who,  when  his  at- 
tention has  been  once  called  to  the  place,  would  not 
desire  to  see  the  sense  otherwise  vindicated,  and  par- 
ticularly if  this  can  be  effected  without  any  strain  of 
text  or  context.    But  whether  such  hope  can  be  re- 
alized must  for  the  present  remain  a  depending  issue. 


Paulum  deliquit  amicus, 

(Quod  nisi  concedas  habeare  insuavis,  acerbus,)  ^ 
(Quod  nisi  concedas  habeare  insuavis),  acerbus  J 

OdISTI  et  FUGIS,  ut  RuSONEM  debitor  iERIS  : 

Ser.  I.  III.  84-6. 

While  it  must  be  granted  that  some  of  the  commen- 
tators have  much  assisted  an  unembarrassed  con- 
struction by  suggesting  the  parenthetic  relation  of 


!i 


122  THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 

the  clause  which  is  accordingly  so  printed  here,  yet 
a  like  measure  of  approbation  is  not  due  to  their 
invariable  exposition  of  its  meaning,  which  is  thus 
paraphrased  by  Orellius,  speaking  with  the  general 
voice—-  Quod  nisi  condones  et  ignoscas,  merito  te 
omnes   nominabunt  intractabilem   et  morosum."— 
The  phrase  *  to  forgive  a  fault'  is  susceptible  (inde- 
pendently of  any  particular  language)  of  either  a 
literal  or  a  figurative  acceptation.     In  the  former 
sense,  the  relation  of  a  'person  to  (or  in  favour  of) 
whom  the  mental  action  passes  must,  to  complete  the 
sense,  be  likewise  expressed;  and  for  this  the  Latin 
language  has  duly  provided  in  such  phrases  as  *  con- 
cedere  alicui  peccata,'  Cic.  &c. :  in  the  latter  the  fault 
Itself  is  (for  compendium)  jp^r5^n?^6?c/,  and  its  repre- 
sentative word  must  therefore  appear  in  the  case-form 
of  the  person-word,  as  in  the  expression  '  concedere 
peccatis:  Cic.  &c.    This  rule  is  not  the  dictum  of  an 
individual,  but  the  sum  of  the  principles  derivable 
from  the  whole  examples  given  in  such  cases ;  and 
IS  manifestly  founded  in  most  natural  associations. 
With  it,  however,  the  preceding  paraphrase  of  our 
parenthesis   is   wholly   inconsistent.     No   example 
whatsoever  occurs  of  the  omission  of  the  oblique 
case-form  of  the  pei^son-word  where  the  *  fault'  im- 
plied is  the  literal  object  of  the  action  :  still  less,  if 
possible,  of  its  not  assuming  the  person-case,  (asset- 
tied  by  the  rule  in  that  instance  provided),  if  its  re- 
lation to  the  verb  be  figurative.     Therefore,  *  quod 
concedei^e;  in  the  sense  oi  to  pardon  which,  must,  in 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  123 

any  view,  be  a  solecism.  Concedere  here  means  sim- 
ply to  grant :  and  quod  plainly  refers  to  the  point 
raised  in  the  preceding  paulum,  and  which  exactly 
involves  the  question  in  debate.  The  parenthesis 
should  be  translated— (''  which  [that  is,  the  possi- 
bility of  the  supposition  '  paulum  deliquit']  unless 
you  grant,"  &c. )  Contrast  the  use  of  the  given  verb 
by  our  author  in  a  passage  of  the  next  Satire:  where 
moreover  he  appears  to  play  upon  different  significa- 
tions of  the  word — 

.     Hoc  est  medlocribus  illis 
Ex  vitils  unum,  cui  si  concedere  noles, 

.  cogemus  [te]  in  hanc  conc^^^rg  turbam.    130-43. 


[Conspersit]  lectum  potus,  mensave  catillum 

EVANDRI  MANIBUS  TRITUM  DEJECIT  ;  OB  HANC  REM, 
AUT  POSITUM  ANTE  MEA  QUIA  PULLUM  IN  PARTE  CATINI 
SUSTULIT  ESURIENS,  MINUS  HOC  JUCUNDUS  AMICUS 

Sit  mihi?  quid  faciam  si  furtum  fecerit,  aut  si 
Prodiderit  commissa  fide,  sponsumve  negarit  ? 

Ser.  I.  III.  90-5. 

Has  any  commentator  ever  seriously  asked  himself, 
whether  a  state  of  decent  society  is  even  conceivable 
in  imagination,  in  which  a  party  conducting  himself  as 
above  stated  should  not  be  esteemed,  at  the  very  least, 
a  '  minus  jucundus  amicus  ?  To  such  a  conception  we 
may  truly  say,  in  the  words  of  the  Satire  itself,  '  sen- 


Ill 


124 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


sus  moresque  repugnant,  atque  ipsa  iitilitas/    Were 
the  expression  of  Horace  '  mmus  diledus;  '  minus 
sincerus;  &c,  an  intelligible,  but  still  a  very  unin- 
structive,  meaning  would  be  supplied;  hni  minus ju^ 
cundus,~^\^s,  that  common  sense  should  so  easily 
vanish  before  the  flourish  of  a  copjist's  pen!   It  will 
be  granted  that  no  form  of  clerical  mark  is  more 
likely  to  thrust  itself  intrusively  into  MSS.  than  the 
note  of  interrogation.     It  resembles  in  shape  both  the 
caudal  dash, '  which  so  gracefully  curls'  by  rnero  motu 
oi  the  ^  ornamental'  penman,  and  the  experimental 
crescent  which  he  oft  indites  on  an  old  or  soiled  mar- 
gin,  *  to  prove  his  weapon's  point.'     To  such  origin 
or  to  some  equally  surreptitious  title,  the  presence' 
of  the  former  of  the  two  marks  of  this  kind  which 
appear  in  the  text  would  seem  necessarily  ascribable  • 
for  by  erasure  of  it  an  argument  becomes  at  once 
clear  and  consistent  which  is  otherwise  unnatural 
and  ridiculous.     The  author  had  just  previously  laid 
down  the  doctrine  that  the  restraint  and  discouraqe- 
mmt  of  the  faults  inherent  in  human  nature,  by  pro- 
portionate processes,  and  not  the  chimerical  project 
of  their  eradication,  should  be  the  aim  of  the  moral 
reformer.     In  practical  illustration  of  the  different 
operation  of  the  two  systems  he  then  observes  to  the 
^^oic,—' l^  your  in^n(i  paulum  deliquit,  the  conse- 
quence IS  odisti  etfugis.     If  mine  so  transgresses,  (as 
suppose,  &c.),  my  sentence  upon  him  is,     ^  minus  noo 
jucundus  amicus  sit  miki:^^hoc  being  the  ratio  of  de- 
Imquency.    But  lest  it  should  be  imagined  that  this 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES. 


125 


equable  forbearance  with  superficial  faults  would 
have  a  necessary  tendency  to  degenerate  into  a  cri- 
minal weakness  or  complicity,  he  adds  forcibly,  if 
not  triumphantly,  the  closing  question,  which  re- 
quires no  answer  to  be  supplied.  As  if  he  had  said 
— '  But  in  the  case  of  moral  delinquency  should  you 
not  see  whether  I  could  not  vindicate  the  dignity  of 
(in  this  instance,  really)  outraged  friendship'?  One 
almost  feels  here  as  though  an  innocent  prisoner  had 
been  set  free,  by  the  removal  of  the  above  crooked 
obstruction. 

There  is  no  necessity  for  understanding  y?J^,  in  the 
last  verse,  as  an  obsolete  case-form.  The  phrase  com- 
missa  fide  may  be  very  well  rendered—'  things  (of 
any  kind)  intrusted  in  honourable  reliance'  (whether 
positively  or  impliedly)  to  a  friend's  guardianship. 


Nam  ut  FERULa  c^das  meritum  majora  subire 

Verbera,  non  vereor 

Ser.  I.  III.  120-1. 

Any  person  who  has  not  been  constrained  in  some 
way  by  the  rigour  of  technical  requirement  to  wade 
through  the  intricate  disquisitions  which  this  little 
sentence  has  originated,  will  scarcely  believe  that  the 
subjoined  analysis  can  be  either  intended  for,  or 
adapted  to,  any  purpose  of  simplification.  But  when 
it  is  stated  that  such  names  as  Bauer,  Jalin,  Grote- 


' 


126      THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAmNED. 

fend,  Orellius,  Heindorf,  &c.,  figure  in  the  contro- 
versy,  it  may  be  fairly  granted  that  '  quicquid  id  est 
non  temere  est:     The  causa  belli  is  that  while  the  com- 
mentators  generally  maintain  that  the  exoression 
*  non  vereor  uf  must,  in  the  propriety  of  Latinity 
mean,  *  I  do  not  fear  you  will  not,'  and  that  this  is 
exactly  the  reverse  of  what  the  argument  evidently 
requires,  they  hare  so  multiplied  hazardous  conjec- 
tures and  conflicting  principles,  that  no  two  of  them 
can  be  found  to  agree  as  to  the  best  mode  of  disen- 
tangling the  sense.    And  shall  it,  after  all,  be  proved 
that  no  difficulty  whatsoever  really  exists  in  the  case? 
Shall  ''  the  curious  prominence"  on  the  shield  of  Dr. 
Cornelius,  of  which  antiquarian  decipherers  doubted 
whether  it  betokened  the  "cuspis  of  a  Roman  sword" 
or  the  presence  of  "  one  of  the  Dii  TermmUr  be  in- 
deed ♦'  shown  to  be  the  head  of  a  rusty  nail!" 

The   arguments,  in  every  view,   assume  that  if 
'  vereor  ut  facias'  would  mean  '  I  fear  you  may  not 
do,'  (and  this  must  be  admitted),  '  non  vereor  ut 
facias'  must  mean  '  /DONT/.ar  you  may  not  do! 
Now,  this  is  by  no  means  certain.     On  the  contrary, 
the  only  passage  which  the  most  eminent  philologists 
adduce  of  ut  being  so  constructed  with  non  vereol^is  a 
case  where  the  action  depending  on  ut  is  desired  by 
the  party  speaking,  (and  we  shall  see  hereafter  how 
important  is  this  distinction),--  ne  verendum  qui- 
dem  est  ut  tenere  se  possit,  ut  moderari,  ne  honoribus 
nostris   elatus  intemperantius  suis  opibus  utatur." 
Cic.  Phil.  v.  18.— whereas,  in  the  present  case,  the 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  127 

action  denoted  in  '  ut  ferula  casdas  meritum  major  a' 
cannot  be  so  understood ;  for  the  awarding  of  too 
licrht  punishments  is  as  adverse  to  the  equity  which  is 
pleaded  for  in  the  context,  as  the  infliction  of  too 
severe.     Proofs  of  usage,  and  not  abstract  reason- 
ings, are  the  proper  tests  of  the  import  of  idiomatic 
phrases  such  as  that  before  us  is  assumed  to  be. 
Nor  will  any  argument  founded  on  a  true  basis  of 
verbal  analogy  justify  the  establishment  of  an  idiom 
on  supposition  from  the  admitted  existence  of  any 
other,  however  nearly  approaching  in  diction.    The 
very  nature,  and  even  the  name  of  such  phrases, 
implies  that  a  separate   especial  ground  of  inter- 
pretation must  be  shown  for  the  assignment  of  their 
separate  significations.     No  one  will  argue  from  the 
known  signification  of  '  juheo  Chremetem^  that  '  non 
vappam^zzko  ac  nebulonem'  could  mean  '  I  do  not 
salute  you  as  so  and  so.'    And  why  ?  Because,  1st,  the 
language  affords  no  corresponding  negative  idiom ; 
and  2nd,  if  it  did,  there  is  enough  in  the  context  to 
disprove  its  use  in  this  particular  instance.     Now,  it 
would  be  only  in  virtue  of  an  idiomatic  license  that 
the  phrase  in  our  text  could  convey  a  sense  so  inde- 
pendent of  the  mere  wording  as  that  which  the  com- 
mentators assign  to  it.     If,  therefore,  there  be  no 
independent  proof  of  the  existence  of  such  idiom,  we 
are  at  once  enabled  to  interpret  the  passage  by  the 
obvious  import  of  th^  words  there  employed—'/  do 
not  ai^prehend  that  you  may,'  &c.  :  and  it  may  be  a 
question  whether,  even  if  the  idiom  were  proved  to 


i 


! 


128 


THE  T^ORKS  OF  HOHACE  EXAMINED. 


It  may  be  observed  in  generilfW,  '  ""  ^• 

-  as  to  an  event  is  .SZt^^Z^^TT'^' 
ment  may  refer  either  to  the  event  it?!?'  "^  "'^'" 
metuit  fides,"  or  to  the  probabiir  ''  "  '"^P^" 

-h  occurring,  in  whl^  n^;  Ti^;^^^^^^^^        «^ 
event  is  secondary   Th.  ,    ^''''''  ''*  reference  to  the 

tions  through  t^  Jdt  TfrLirr ''^\"°- 

proved  a  fruitful  source  of  dil n  7  ^^"g»age  has 
gist,  in  the  shape  of  n  inq'^  fj"" '^'  ^^^^^o- 
sical  construction  of  thp  v.  i  ^  P™?^^  ^las- 

With  the  particle:  t  1^1  Tf'^'^'  '''"^^' 
exposition  isfounded  o  the' hope  tf -f '''"^"^'"^^ 
to  reduce  the  various  modes  o7S  l  •'"  '""'"?' 
a  few  simple  principles  t^bH  f  ^^''^  '"^^^^^^  ^ 
here  prove  LT^t^lt  / r""''''"^'''  ^^ould 
tion  for  better de  e wr^ *  ."  '° ^^^ ^ ^-"'^- 
-because  of  clearl:::--^^,-^^^^ 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIBES.        129 

However  diflPerent  may  be  the  notions  conveyed 
by  the  separate  terms  vereor,  metuoj  and  timeo,  as  re- 
gards the  character  of  the  apprehension  itself,  the 
grammatical  effect  of  each  upon  the  sequel  is  the 
same:  and  they  may  all  be  fairly  represented  by  the 
English  term  *  fear.'     As  these  verbs  exceed  simple 
anticipation  in  their  meaning,  so  indifferent  events 
are  excluded:  and  thus  another  element,  namely  the 
fact  of  the  event  itself  being  desirable  or  undesirable, 
is  proper  and  necessary  to  the  case.     Accordingly 
three  notions  are  included  in  all  such  expressions: — 
1st. — the  presence  or  absence  of  fear  of— 2nA — the 
occurrence  or  non-occurrence  of  a  future  event  which  the 
principal  agent  regards  as — 3rd — desirable  or  unde- 
sirable.    These  notions  are,  of  course,  only  limitedly 
compatible.     But  as  a  clear  conception  of  the  avail- 
able associations  may  be  assisted  by  their  compa- 
rison with   those   that   are  not  so,  the  following 
synopsis  gives  all  possible  trinary  combinations  of 
arbitrary  representative  marks  of  both,  which  for 
brevity  we  shall  call  modes,  noting  those  in  which 
the  notions  could  not  themselves  co-exist  by  [f],  and 
particularizing  useless  modes  thus  [*].  In  the  selec- 
tion of  corresponding  verbal  examples,  all  varieties 
that  depend  for  their  existence  on  disputed  readings 
are  omitted,  as  belonging  to  a  portion  of  the  contro- 
versy both  uninteresting  and  indeterminate.     And 
thus  the  reader  may  confine  his  attention  to  the  ap- 
plicability of  the  proofs,  without  being  embarrassed 
by  any  feeling  of  insecurity  as  to  their  reality. 


ui\ 


130  THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


f  s. 

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O       ^ 


03    > 


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S    CO  ,0 

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O  «^  ^ 

O   a>  ^ 

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DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.        131 

The  junior  reader  may  find  his  discrimination  as- 
sisted by  following  out  the  subjoined  easily  verified 
results.  If  y  be  taken  for  the  desirableness  ofp  OTp\ 
and  y  for  the  reverse,  it  is  evident  that,  in  the  four 
modes  which  include  p,  y  may  be  substituted  for  x^ 
and  y'  for  x'^  the  same  character  of  mode  being  pre- 
served; and  that  a  vice  versa  process  would  merely 
cause  the  modes  severally  to  interchange  places  with 
one  another,  the  wlwle  result  being  as  before.  But 
where  p'  occurs,  if  we  supply  x  by  y,  and  x'  by  y\ 
we  shall  have  new  modes,  which  are  all,  however, 
reducible  to  previous  expressions:  thus — 


(t) 


(*) 


(^>  p\  y) 
(»w»  p\  y) 
(^'»  p\  y) 
(^'»  p\  y) 


(m,  p\  x) 
(m,  p\  x) 
{m\  p\  x) 
{m\p,x) 


The  inverse  substitution  would  obviously  cause 
nothing  beyond  a  transposition  in  order.  Thus  every 
possible  concurrence  of  notions  in  such  like  case  is 
so  far  provided  for.  And  all  this  will  hold  equally 
good  in  instances  of  substitution  of  tantamount  terms, 
such  as  of  ut  non  for  ne,  &c.,  &c. 

From  the  scale  exhibited  on  the  opposite  page,  it 
would  appear  that  Professor  Zumpt's  canon  requires 
some  modification.  That  eminent  authority  lays 
down  the  rule  that  ne  should  be  used  **  when  it  is 
wished  that  something  should  not  happen ;"  ut  "when 
it  is  wished  that  something  should  take  place;"  and 
that  "  these  same  verbs  are  followed  by  the  infinitive 

i2 


'4l\ 


132 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


when  they  express  only  a  state  of  mind,  without  im- 
plying  any  wish  either  the  one  way  or  the  other,  as 
vereor  dicere" 

•   This  last  case  is  sufficiently  noticed  by  mere  allu- 
sion to  it,  as  in  page  128.     Upon  the  other  rules 
it  must  be  remarked,  1st,  That  they  leave  the  very 
question  raised  in  this  controversy  wholly  unprovided 
for,  and  even  untouched.     2nd,  That,  if  our  present 
view  of  the  given  text  be  correct,  the  rule  as  regards 
ut  is  not  universally  true.     3rd,  That  the  circum- 
stance of  negative  csises  in  general  being  no  otherwise 
adjusted,  than  so  far  as  we  may  infer  that  the  "  some- 
thing which  it  is  wished  should  not  happen"  may  itself 
be  the  non-occurrence  of  an  event,  is  insufficient  for 
purposes  of  clearness.  4th,  Thataconsequenceof  this 
latter  defect,  together  with  the  absence  of  all  account 
of  the  principle  of  the  distinction  specified,  is,  that  a 
student  might  suppose  it  a  matter  of  indifference  in 
any  case  whether  he  wrote  'vereor  ut  liceatj  or  'vereor 
ne  non  liceat;  and  yet  in  the  strictest  obedience  to  a 
rule  oi  grammar,  which  the  professor  makes  manda- 
tory, he  might  violate  a  rule  of  taste,  which  usage 
stamps  with  a  sanction  equal  to  that  of  other  under- 
stood, though  undefined,  verbal  courtesies  of  life. 
And  this  brings  us  to  the  principle  of  the  distinction 
between  the  use  of  ut  and  ne,  which  appears  to  be— 
that  tendency  to  euphemism  which  is  almost  involuntary 
in  speech.    Thus,  in  English,  we  say—'  I  fear  as  to  its 
being  probable,'  instead  of  the  harsher  '  I  fear  lest  it 
be  not  probable/     But  wlio  shall  base  on  this  a  rule 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.         133 

of  grammar  ?  Or  how  could  a  rule  of  grammar,  based 
in  any  way,  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  proprieties 
of  such  a  case  ?  No  doubt,  while  correct  taste  would 
not  be  violated  by  a  party  saying  respecting  himself, 
*  verebamini  ne  non  id  facerem  quod  recepissem  se- 
mel  ?'  the  parties  addressed  would  be  represented  as 
expressing  to  him.  such  a  fear,  by  '  veremur  ut  facias/ 
&c.;  and  again,  while  Horace  makes  the  seer  convey 
his  apprehension  to  the  person  concerned  by  '  0  puer, 
ut  sis  vitalis  metuo'  the  other  might  properly  express 
the  same  sentiment  as  his  own  question  thus, '  metuis 
ne  non  sim  vitalis  7  Hence  the  more  frequent  use 
of  ne,  and  ne  non,  with  m\ 

Understood  with  these  limitations  the  rules  of  Pro- 
fessor Zumpt  are  in  the  main  included  throughout  the 
more  copious  particulars  which  the  scale  laid  down  in 
page  130  supplies.  But  it  will  be  necessary  to  con- 
fine his  canon  respecting  the  construction  of  ut  to 
certain  idiomatic  uses,  by  taking  the  given  text  out 
of  the  range  of  which  we  have  reduced  the  meaning 
of  the  sentence  to  the  result  of  the  mere  grammatical 
combination  of  the  meanings  of  its  actual  words.  It 
is  satisfactory,  in  confirmation  of  the  present  view, 
that  the  fastidious  Bentley  found  no  fault  in  the  given 
passage,  which  he  must  therefore  have  received  in 
that  simplicity  of  construction  to  which  the  present 
effort  seeks  to  restore  it:  and  that  may  be  very  sim- 
ple in  itself  which  requires  a  complex  vindication. 


fttl 


134  THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


NON  NOSTI  QUID  PATER,  INQUIT, 

Chrysippus  dicat:  sapiens  crepidas  sibi  nukquam 

NeC  SOLEAS  fecit  ;  SUTOR  TAMEN  EST  SAPIENS. 

Ser.  I.  III.  126-8. 
Not  even  the  unstinted  communicativeness  of  Die 
genes  Laertius  supplies  us  with  any  dogma  or  saying 
of  Chrysippus  which  in  reason  could  have  directly 
provoked  the  preceding  parody.      But  it  may  be 
supposed  to  have  been  to  the  effect,  that '  although 
the  "  wise  man"  may  have  never  worn  a  crown,  nor 
held  a  sceptre,  yet  the  "  wise  man"  is  truly  a  king  be- 
cause he  rules  himself:    This  receives  confirmation 
irom  another  place  where  our  author  uses  the  words, 
"  Sapiens,  sibi  qmimperiosus:'-^  See.  IL  vii.  83   Plu- 
tarch, in  his  Treatise  ^repl  eiOvf^cd.,  gives  incidentally 
a  very  comprehensive  summary  of  the  Stoical  pre- 
tensions  as  popularly  understood --"Ei./o,  roi^  ^.h 
^m,ov,  orourac  Tracpcv,  Srau  dKovcrwai  ro,  ao<t>6u  Trap' 
avTOijj^rj  ^6,op  <l>p6v,f.ov  Kal  Uku^ov  Kal  i,vlpe?ov,  ^\X^ 
icm  prrropa  Kal  arpirrnov  Kal  Trotffryy  ,al  -nXomtov  Kal 
PaacXea   'npoaayopev6fxevov,    ahrov,  U  Trdurwu   i^covai 
TovTwy,  kRv  fxrf  Tvyxapwrnv,  aviwvratr 

A  brief  attempt  to  simplify  the  real  bearing  and 
ongm  of  these  extraordinary  claims,  and  in  part  to 
vindicate  Stoical  principle  from  the  misconception 
to  which  the  aspirings  of  an  ambitious  but  necessa- 
rily imperfect  conformity  in  practice  exposed  it,  is 
reserved  for  the  next  article. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.         135 

Vellunt  tibi  barbam 
Lascivi  pueri  ;  Quos  tu  ni  fuste  coerces 

Privatusque  magis  vivam  te  rege  beatus. 

Ser.  I.  III.  133-42. 

Where  the  verb  carries  its  own  subject  implied  in 
its  termination,   as  in  the  first  and  second  persons, 
or  where  the  context  supplies  it  to  the  third,  a  per- 
sonal pronoun  is  never  employed  by  classical  writers 
to  represent  the  subject,  save  emphatically  or  dis- 
tinctively.    The  point  (certainly  a  small  one)  which 
this  canon  here  suggests  is,   that  the  phrase   '  ni 
fuste  coerced  is  borrowed  from  that  which  intro- 
duces the  discussion,  a  mode  of  closing  upon  the 
original  question  very  familiar  with  Horace.     As  if 
he  had  said  jestingly—*  Well,  whatever  be  the  true 
"  regula"  by  which  "  ratio  delicta  coercet^'  it  is  plain 
that  "  TU  ni  pueros  fuste  coerces^'  Sic'    More  advan- 
tageous instances  of  the  force  of  such  use  of  personal 
pronouns  by  our  author  are  furnished  in  the  follow- 
ing quotations — 

.     .     .     "  *Non  ego  pauperum 

Sanguis  parentura  non  ego  quem  vocas 

Dilecte  Maecenas  obibo ;"  &c.  Carm.  ii.  xx.  5-7. 

'*  Non  ego  me  claro  natum  patre,  non  ego  circum 

Me  Satureiano  vectari  rura  caballo,"  &c. 

Ser.  I.  VI.  58-9. 

*  The  punctuation  of  this  stanza  is  so  much  disputed,  and  is 
after  all  so  purely  a  question  of  taste,  and  so  immaterial  to  the 
purposes  of  the  introduction  of  the  passage  here,  that  it  is  left 
above  to  the  reader's  discretion. 


136 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


"  Ilk  non,  inclusiis  equo  Minervs 
Sacra  mentito,  male  feriatos 
Troas  et  Istam  Priami  choreis 

Falleret  aulara."  Carm.  IV.  vi.  13-6. 
Here  it  is  well  worthy  the  reader's  attention  to  ob- 
serve how  admirably  the  emotions  oi pride,  ingenu- 
oumess,  and  scorn,  are  respectively  sustained  by  mere 
introduction  of  a  personal  pronoun,  which  by  itself 
IS  of  course  wholly  wnsignificant  of  such  feelings. 

In  negative  instances  the  difference  caused  by  the 
relative  positions  of  the  pronoun  and  negative  ad- 
verb appears  to  consist  in  this— that  where  the  nega- 
tive precedes,  the  character  of  the  action  or  event  is 
contrasted  with  what  it  might  have  been  supposed  to 
be  in  the  same  subject:  where  the  pronoun  precedes 
the  character  of  the  agent  himself  or  subject  is  con- 
trasted with  that  of  another  agent  or  subject.     For 
instance,  in  the  first  and  second  of  the  above  exam- 
ples, Horace  contrasts  a  certain  condition  and  conduct 
on  his  own  part  with  what  might  otherwise  be  sup- 
posed to  appertain  to  him:  in  the  third  Achilles  is 
contrasted  with  others.  And  all  this  is  done  by  judi- 
cious management  of  a  personal  pronoun  combined 
with  the  common  negative  adverb. 

The  last  ten  verses  of  the  Third  Satire  (supposed 
to  be  here  quoted),  require  some  notice  to  connect 
them  with  the  previous  argument  in  their  full  signi- 
ficance. In  these  the  author  abandons  the  profess- 
ing Stoic  to  two  ludicrous  practical  consequences  of 
his  unsocial  doctrines;  the  scene  being  kid  m  canm- 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  137 

tares  taken,  one  from  the  pains  of  life,  another  from 
its  pleasures.     In  the  former,  he  observes,  '  vellunt 
tiU  barbam  lascivi  pueri:  now,  these fuste  coei-cere  you 
cannot,  for  this  would  be  to  admit  my  principle ;  and 
horribUi  sedari  flagello  you  dare  not,  for  society  will 
not  tolerate  your's:  thus  nature's  only  resource  is  a 
helpless  outcry  of  anger  and  agony  !     In  the  latter, 
even  while  enjoying  one  of  the  few  poor  pleasures 
which  alone  your  system  affords,  solitude  is  your  por- 
tion: for  as  vitiis  nemo  sine  nascitur,  and  as  you  there- 
fore arnicas  odisti  etfugis,  the  limited  number  of  the 
sapientes  will  only  afford  your  majesty  one  stipator; 
and  if  he  be  not  stultus,  he  is  worse,  i.  e.  ineptus  !' 

Having  now  enjoyed  with  Horace  our  laugh  at  his 
fancy  sketch  of  a  moral  reformer-general,  as,  in  the 
ill-assorted  dress  of  pride  and  poverty,  he  is  supposed 
to  rebuke  the  ancient  world,  it  may  be  well  to  guard 
the  junior  reader  against  an  error  which  is  very  pre- 
valent amongst  his  class,  namely,  that  of  inferring  en- 
tire mistake  in  theory  from  such  glaring  practical  mis- 
carriage, and  of  assuming  that  the  Stoical  principles 
were  themselves  as  necessarily  absurd  as  the  conduct 
of  their  professors  was  avowedly  eccentric.     Such 
an  estimate  would  ill  appreciate  the  severe  views  of  a 
Zeno,  a  Cleanthes,  and  even  of  Socrates  himself,  whose 
doctrines  entered  largely  into  their  system.     The 
Stoics  in  truth  made  a  more  approximate  effort  at 
reasoning  out  some  of  the  essential  truths  which  have 
since  been  clearly  and  authoritatively  confirmed  to 
us  by  an  express  revelation  than  any  of  their  contem- 


138 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


porary  investigators  of  the  moral  phenomena  of  hu- 
man nature.     And  as  some  of  the  most  remarkable 
historical  facts  of  the  primitive  physical  world  are  re- 
coverable  from  the  mass  of  superstition  which  consti- 
tutes mythological  tradition— (the  record  of  the  uni- 
versal Deluge,  and  the  Dispersion  from  the  plains  of 
Shinar,  for  instance,  being  traceable  in  fabulous  re- 
gions  under  the  guise  of  *  The  Flood  of  Ogyges/  and 
'  The  Defeat  of  the  Titans,^)-so  the  true  ethical 
history  of  man  likewise  deposited  some  relics  in  the 
archives  of  Time  which  were  never  wholly  lost.  Thus 
in  the  *  wise  man^  of  the  Stoics  we  behold  p.  shadowy 
reflection  of  that  *  finitely  perfect^  being  which  we 
now  know  that  man  in  fact  originally  was ;  and  in 
their  '  ha  T<i  ^^aprr^^ara!  we  decipher  the  distorted 
elements  of  a  lesson  since  taught  us  by  the  unerring 
record,  namely,  that  even  one,  the  least  transgression 
IS  sufficient  to  degrade  from  that  high  and  holy  state' 
Naturally  unable  to  solve  beforehand  the  mystic  pro- 
blem  of  man's  regeneration  (now  so  accommodated 
to  every  capacity  by  the  marvellous  simplicity  of  the 
account  vouchsafed  to  us,  that  even  the  child  can  lisp 
its  accomplishment),  and  yet  discerning  evidences  of 
a  higher  attainment  being  suitable  to  his  spiritual  na- 
ture than  he  commonly  proposes  to  himself,  they  were 
fam  to  essay  the  impracticable  achievement  of  so  pu- 
rifying the  heart  and  mind  by  a  process  of  self-recti- 
fication  that  man  might  thereby  approximate  to  the 
full  dignity  of '  the  just  made  perfect.^     It  does  not 
appear  that  the  founder,  or  any  genuine  disciple  of  the 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.         139 

Philosophy  of  the  Porch,  ever  assumed  to  resemble 
that  paragon  of  rectitude  which  their  visionary  arche* 
type  ideally  personifted ;  and  their  '  ha  ra  KaTopOw- 
pLara  is  a  direct  abnegation  of  all  claim  to  cumulative 
desert.     But  that  such  a  profession  as  it  was  neces- 
sary for  the  Stoic  to  maintain  would  have  a  natural 
tendency  to  represent  even  the  most  conscientious 
and  judicious  sage  of  that  sect  as  an  uncharitable  and 
self-righteous  ascetic,  while  in  the  person  of  the  weak* 
minded  or  insincere  follower  it  would  be  inevitably 
likely  to  degenerate  into  ridiculous  arrogance  and 
practical  absurdity,  is  sufficiently  evident.    To  this 
latter  case  the  strictures  of  Horace  chiefly  apply.     It 
is  not  pretended  here,  however,  that  he  probably  held 
their  highest  principles  in  much  veneration.    And  it 
must  have  been  a  task  to  which  he  was  constitution- 
ally ill  adapted,  to  ascertain  and  estimate  what  of 
good  their  system  actually  included,  amid  the  asperi- 
ties of  controversy  which  often  cause  the  best  men 
to  overstate  their  own  case,  the  misrepresentations 
of  enemies,  and  the  shortcomings  and  hypocrisy  of 
many  nominal  adherents.  But  in  whatever  degree  the 
ridicule  of  Horace,  or  of  any  other  objector  tinged 
with  Epicurean  or  Cyrenaic  predilections,  is  directed 
against  the  stern  ethical  views  of  Stoicism,  the  consi- 
derations above  suggested  would  appear  fairly  enti- 
tled to  be  taken  into  account. 

Upon  the  precise  verbal  form  of  the  leading  dog- 
mas of  the  Stoical  system  it  may  be  remarked,  that 
the  pamphlet  by  Cicero,  called  the  Paradoxa,  and 


I 


140 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


addressed  to  Marcus  Brutus,  furnishes  a  more  suc- 
cinct view  of  those  which  are  alluded  to  throughout 
this  Satire,  than  any  that  can  be  derived  from  the 
quotations  from  Stobaeus  found  in  Orellius.  These 
latter  indeed  are  mere  paraphrases,  lacking  altogether 
the  sententiousness  of  aphorisms.  On  this  account, 
the  six  "  paradoxes"  which  Cicero  discusses,  and 
which  may  therefore  be  supposed  to  be  given  in  the 
form  most  familiar  to  Roman  eyes,  are  here  subjoined 
in  their  order  of  precedence  in  his  pamphlet. 

1.  "Ort  fiovov  ayaObvf  to  kuXov. 

2.  "On  avTapicrig  i]  aperrj  irpog  evSaifioviav. 

3.  "On  Ua  TO  afxapTijfiaTa,  Kai  Ta  KaTopBofinaTa. 

4.  On  iravTEQ  ol  fitopol  naivovrai, 

5.  "On  navng  ol  (TO<po\  l\e{,eepot,  irdweg  dlfjiu>pol  SoDAot. 

6.  "On  fiovog  6  (Tot^og  irXovaiog. 

A  sketch  of  Cicero's  general  view  of  these  prin- 
ciples, in  his  own  words,  may  fitly  close  the  present 
observations. 

'*  Ego  vero  ilia  ipsa,  quae  vix  in  gymnasiis,  et  in 
otio  Stoici  probant,  ludens  conjeci  in  communes  lo- 
cos: quaj  quia  sunt  admirabilia  contraque  opinionem 
omnium,  ab  ipsis  etiam  Trapido^a  appellantur.  Ten- 
tare  volui  possentne  prceferri  in  lucem,  id  est  in  forum; 
etita  did  ut  probarmtur :  an  alia  quajdam  esset  eru- 
dita,  alia  popularis  oratio:  eoque  scripsi  libentius, 
quod  mihi  ista  Trapdho^a  quce  appellant  maxime  vidm- 
tur  esse  Socratica,  longeque  verissima:' —Far.  Lib.  ad 
M.  Brut. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.         141 


HOC  MIHI  JURIS 


Cum  venia  dabis 


See.  I.  IV.  104-5. 


The  dicta  of  the  highest  authorities  tend  to  regard 
the  governmental  form  which  subjects  the  genitive 
of  a  substantive  of  any  gender  to  an  adjective  or 
pronoun  of  the  neuter,  as  convertible  into  a  concord 
of  the  same  terms,  so  far  as  the  notion  jointly  con- 
veyed is  concerned.     Thus  for  instance,  Professor 
Zumpt  distinctly  lays  down  that  '' exiguum  campV 
is  equivalent  to  exiguus  campus,  *'  ultimum  inopice''  to 
ultima  inopia,  &c.     And  he  thus  seems  to  take  neu- 
ters out  of  the  general  category  which  he  had  pre- 
viously established  respecting  partitives  in  general. 
The  able  adaptation  of  Kuhner's  Work  to  the  highest 
requirements  of  Greek  scholars  in  these  countries, 
known  as  '  Jelf 's  Greek  Grammar,'  more  philosophi- 
cally considers  this  as  one  of  several  instances  in 
which  "  the  substantive  is  put  in  the  attributive  geni- 
tive," thus  defining  the  adjectival  notion  instead  of 
being  defined  by  it,  as  would  occur  in  the  instance  of 
a  true  concord.     This  latter  is  a  satisfactory  account, 
so  far  as  it  goes :  nor  can  any  reasonable  objection 
lie  against  extending  to  the  whole  class  Professor 
Zumpt's  statement  of  the  mere  syntactical  qualifica- 
tion of  neuter  adjectives  and  pronouns  for  governing 
in  this  instance,  viz.—"  first,  because  in  meaning  they 
have  become  substantives ;  second,  because  they  ex- 
press a  part  of  the  whole."     But  with  all  due  defe- 


142 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


rence  to  these  authorities,  (and  none  more  eminent 
exist  in  any  country),  they  have  dealt  too  vaguely 
with  the  principle  of  this  construction.     For  this 
'  attributive'  genitive  must  exercise  naturally  a  more 
restrictive  force  upon  the  extension  of  the  adjectival 
term  taken  substantively,  from  the  circumstance  of 
its  case-form  necessarily  expressing  inclusiveness  of  it, 
and  must  thus  mark  it  out  more  prominently  as  be- 
ing but  a  part  of  the  whole,  than  any  defining  power 
of  the  adjectival  notion  operating  upon  the  substan- 
tival by  concord  could  exert.     Thus  *  exiguum  cam- 
pi'  conveys  a  much  more  specific  notion  than  '  exiguus 
campus  /  or  lest  it  be  supposed  that  the  latter  ex- 
pression being  equivocal  may  affect  this  more  than 
it  really  does,  the  "  Kar^  rouro  Kaipod''  of  Thucy- 
dides  (vii.  2)  fixes  a  stated  ji^^^zW  in  time,  which  Kara 
To^op  Kalpov  would  have  left  comparatively  indeter- 
minate; the  "  satis  eloquentias"  of  Sallust  still  inti- 
mates  a  ^  5A(?rfcm%  in  the  accomplishment;  the 
I*  0«)Twi/  aexiwv  iKTypia!'  of  Sophocles  ((Ed.  Col.  923) 
is  a  plea  of  privilege  which  excludes  the  obdurate  and 
unbending  of  the  ieXiot ;  the    ^'  dfip^  Traprflho,''  of 
Euripides  (Phoen.  1500)  suggests  to  the  imagination 
points  of  delicacy  and  beauty  diversifying  a  fair  sur- 
face;  the  "  Lydorum  quidquidJ'  (Ser.  I.  vi.  1)  of  our 
own  author  is  intended  to  imply  emphatically  each 
and  every  individual  included  in  the  extension  of  the 
universal  term ;   while  the  force  of  such  forms  as 
"  opaca  locorum;'   ^'  vilia  renimr  plainly  lies  in  the 
selection  implied. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  143 

That  the  principle  just  stated  is  as  much  the  true 
distinctive  characteristic  of  such  cases  as  Professor 
Zumpt  would  admit  it  to  be  in  the  instance  of  express 
partitives  and  numerals,  appears  to  be  demonstrable 
by  a  very  simple  proof;  namely— that  when  the  ad- 
jectival term  taken  substantively  would  rqyresent  the  ab- 
stract '  whole:  this  peculiar  construction  is  not  found, 
any  more  than  if  it  were  a  summation  of  individuals. 
Accordingly  such  combinations  as  totum  rnundi  vir- 
tutis,  armorum,  'nav  or  oXov  (with  or  without  to)  to? 
Koa^iov,  T^?  aperip,  twv  ZitXwv,  at  once  strike  the  ear 
and  eye  of  the  reader  as  unfamiliar  expressions.  And 
why?  Obviously  because  a  statement  of  the  '  whole' 
including  itself  could  not  possess  any  distinctiveness 
of  notion  beyond  what  an  ordinary  concord  would 
be  fitted  to  convey.     It  might  indeed  at  first  sight 
appear  that  the  general  canon,  which  the  before-men- 
tioned authorities  have  partially  propounded,  is  in- 
consistent with  the  "  omnibus  Macedonum''  of  Livy, 
and  the  '*  cuncta  terraruni'  of  our  own  author.  But  on 
examination  it  will  appear  that  these  are  exceptions 
which  truly  prove  the  present  rule  in  its  most  ex- 
tended sense.  For  by  such  plural  forms  the  attention 
is  rather  distributed  over  the  several  parts,  as  such, 
that  constitute  the  whole,  than  fixed  upon  the  aggre- 
gate which  they  complete :  and  so  "  cuncta  terrarum 
subacta,  prceter  atrocem  animum  Catonis''  (Carm.  II. 
I.  23-4)  poetically  contrasts  multiplied  instances  of 
(real)  success  with  one  solitary  (figurative)  failure; 
but  does  not  extol  the  magnitude  of  their  amount 


i 


144 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


I 


above  any  smallness  appertaining  to  the  individual 
exception. 

The   original   adjectives    and   pronouns   of  the 
neuter  gender  that,  in  the  Latin  language,  *  govern 
the  genitive/  as  the  scholastic  phrase  is,  seem  to 
be  reducible  to  two  very  distinct  classes.     First— 
Those  which  in  themselves  express  a  relation  of 
quantity  to  the  whole  of  which  they  are  a  part,  thus 
holding  a  position  relatively  to  it  somewhat  resem- 
bling that  of  numerator  to  denominator  in  a  proper 
fraction :  such  are  rnultum,  paulum,  nimium,  adverbs 
of  quantity,  comparatives  and  superlatives  in  general, 
diminutives,  and  the  negative  nihil     These  and  all 
such  we  would  naturally  suppose  included  under 
Zumpt's  rule  as  to  partitives  in  general,  were  it  not 
for  his  statement  respecting  'exiguum  campi!  Second 
—Those  which,  implying  still  the  relation  of  part  to 
whole,  do  not  in  their  proper  signification  convey  any 
note  of  quantity,  but  nevertheless  belong  as  strictly 
to  the  rule  as  the  former:  such  are  hoc,  id,  illud,  istud, 
aliud,  tantum  and  quantum  with  their  compounds, 
quid  and  quod  with  compounds,  and  adverbs  expres- 
sive oi points  in  time  or  space.    The  value  of  each  of 
the  former  is  directly  as  its  own  meaning.     The  lat- 
ter, with  the  exception  of  the  last  subdivision  of  them, 
depend  upon  the  context,  and  may  range  in  any  de- 
gree between  maxima  and  minima;  thus—"  Quid  hoc, 
Tarquini,  reiestr  i.  e.  '  What  is  this  monstrous  piece' 
of  conduct?'— Liv.  I.  48.  -Hoc  mihi>m,"  &c.,  i.  e. 
*  You  shall  grant  me  this  much  (this  slight  boon)  of 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  145 

privilege.'  See  text  above.  "  Saguntum  ut  caperetur 
quid -per  octo  menses  perimli,  quid  labor  is  exhaustum 
est?"  i.  e.  '  What  a  vast  amount  of  danger  and  toil?' 
&c.— Liv.  XXI.  30.  "  Quid  causce  est  merito  quin  illis," 
&c.?  i.  e.  *  What  shadow  of  ground  exists,'   &c.? 
Ser.  1. 1.  20.  In  each  of  these  instances  Zumpt  would 
evidently  consider  a  concord  form  to  be  merely  a  vari- 
ation of  expression.  Of  course  the  difference  between 
ultima  inopia  and  ultimum  inopice^extremumpericulum 
and  extremum  periculi,  is  not  greater  than  in  the 
English  language  is  suggested  by  the  expressions 
'  utmost  want  or  danger,'  and  '  extremity  of  want  or 
danger.'     But  that  philologists  have  overlooked  the 
necessity  of  an  essential  difference  appertaining  more 
or  less  to  all  instances  of  the  governmental  construc- 
tion, would  appear  to  derive  further  confirmation  from 
the  circumstance  that  in  cases  where  a  concord  form 
is  employed  instead  of  it,  as  in  '  summa  domus^  i.  e. 
'the  top  of  the  house,'  '  vere  primo,'  i.  e.  in  the  begin- 
ning  0/ spring,'  &c.,  &c.,  the  construction  is  so  artifi- 
cial as  to  be  regarded  even  as  ornamental:  and  this 
mode  of  expression  has  itself,  no  doubt,  arisen  from 
the  natural  tendency  to  assimilation  which  has  been 
elsewhere  in  these  pages  called  the  principle  of  ^5- 
sociation,  and  to  which  some  other  forms  of  speech 
are  there  sought  to  be  reduced. 

The  bearing  of  the  Greek  parallel  throughout  will 
readily  suggest  itself  to  the  minds  of  readers. 

Professor  Zumpt  further  remarks :  "  It  is  however 
to  be  observed,  that  these  neuters  are  used  as  sub- 


»1 


146 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


stantives  only  in  the  nominative  and  accusative,  and 
that  they  must  not  be  dependent  upon  prepositions." 
Also,  "  Only  adjectives  of  the  second  declension  can 
be  treated  as  substantives."  And  again,  "  Poets  and 
prose  writers  later  than  Cicero  use  the  neuters  of  ad- 
jectives in  general,  both  in  the  singular  and  plural, 
as  substantives,  and  join  them  with  a  genitive." 

No  disrespect  towards  one  to  whom  every  scholar 
stands  deeply  indebted  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  thought 
to  attach  to  a  protest  against  thus  accumulating  rules 
without  assigning  principles,  and  including  under  a 
common  exception  as  well  cases  for  which  a  reason 
may  be  rendered,  as  those  that  are  most  probably 
due  to  accidental  circumstance. 

In  the  case  of  supposed  idioms,  as  has  been  before 
said,  the  absence  of  proof  of  use  is  conclusive.  But  in 
what  may  be  called  open  questions  it  is  rather  a  slen- 
der foundation  for  peremptory  rules.  The  limitation 
to  the  nominative  and  accusative  cases  indeed  may 
be  accounted  for  from  the  circumstance  of  the  neuter 
being  in  these  instances  alone  demonstrably  marked 
out  as  such.  And  the  transition  of  usage  mentioned 
in  the  last  clause  may  be  worth  knowing  as  a  fact. 
But  the  excluding  of  adjectives  of  the  third  declension 
may,  for  anything  that  appears  to  the  contrary,  be 
merely  tantamount  to  stating  that  such  partitives  as 
have  been  specified  happen  to  belong  to  the  second. 

Nor  is  it  easy  to  conceive  on  what  principle  the 
disqualification  of  prepositions  rests.  Why  should 
not  a  writer  of  Latin  composition  now-a-days  express, 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  147 

for  instance,  the  phrase—'  after  enjoying  a  little 
rest'— by  '  post  paulum  quietis  delibatum'?  Or  why 
should  he  not  combine  the  words  of  our  text,  if  con- 
venient, with  a  preposition,  ihviS—' propter  hoc  juris,' 
suppose?  Such  a  rule  is  at  least  contrary  to  analogy: 
nor  is  the  instance  of  "  ad  id  locormn!'  in  Sallust  rea- 
dily removed  by  regarding  with  Zumpt  the  genitive 
as  simply  superfluous. 

But  our  pages  are  forgetting  their  subordination 
to  the  Title-page :  and  must  be  recalled  to  their  pro- 
per duty,  the  illustration  of  particular  Latin  Text. 


Mali  culices  ran^eque  palustres 

AVERTUNT  SOMNOS;    ABSENTEM  UT  CANTAT  AMICAM 
MULTA  PROLUTUS  VAPPA  NAUTA,  ATQUE  VIATOR 

Certatim:  tandem  fessus  dormire  viator 

InCIPIT  :    AC  MISS^  PASTUM  RETINACULA  MULiE 
Nauta  PIGER  SAXO  RELIGAT,  STERTITQUE  SUPINUS. 

Ser.  1.  V.  1449. 

''Hoc  est,  UT,  sive  dum  cantat  nauta,  et  viator  arnicas,'' 
&c.  Such  is  Dr.  Bentley's  summary  mode  of  dis- 
posing of  the  '  difficulty'  said  to  belong  here  to  the 
construction  oiut:  nor  does  any  other  seem  to  the 
commentators  more  feasible.  But  fact  is  unyielding : 
and  it  is  a  fact,  that  either  all  the  standard  lexico- 
graphers are  wrong  in  not  assigning  the  meaning 
'  whUe'  in  any  case  to  ut,  or  Bentley's  view  is  unsound. 

k2 


148 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


Ut,  as  a  temporal  adverb,  is  limited  to  two  signifi- 
cations, 'when'  and  '  since:     In  these  uses,  its  power 
seems  to  be  to  emphaticise  rapidity,   immediateness, 
or  a  coincidence  of  points  in  time;   as,    "  Homo,  iit 
(i.  e.  soon  as)  hoc  audivit,  sic  exarsit,"  &c.— Cic. 
Verr.  i.  25.     "  Nam  ut  numerabatur  forte  pecunia, 
(i.  e.  'just  as  it  was  being/  &c.),  intervenit  homo  ex 
improviso."_Adel.  III.  iii.  52.  This  latter  is  the  soli- 
tary example  cited  by  Bentley  in  support  of  his  case : 
but  the  point  of  the  expression  is  evidently  lost  by 
so  applying  it.     Of  the  notion  '  since  being  thus  ex- 
pressible the  following  examples  are  given "  Ut 

illos  libros  edidisti,  nihil  a  te  sane  postea  accepimus." 
—Cic.  Brut.  v.     -  Qui  (dies)  primus  risit,  dims  ut 
Afer  (s^viit)"  &c.— Car.  I Y.  iv.  42.     "  Ut  fluxit  in 
terram  Remi  cruor,"  i.  e.  'ever  since.'— Ep.  vii.  19. 
But  of '  while'  not  one  instance  seems  discoverable. 
But  if  ut  be  not  '  while'  what  is  it?  If  it  be  granted 
that  a  conjecture  favouring  simplification  is  entitled 
to  more  allowance  than  one  which  would  be  perplex- 
ing or  idle,  it  may  not  be  wholly  impertinent  to  ask 
here— why  should  not  ut  imply  a  comparison  of  cases 
in  the  usual  meaning  of  asF    Horace  was  evidently 
disposed  to  note  trivial  associations  of  thought,  and 
to  be  amused  with  trifles,  during  this  famous  '  Jour- 
ney.'   Why  may  he  not  here  be  understood  to  com- 
pare ludicrously  the  annoyance  felt  from  the  croaking 
and  buzzing  of  ranee  and  culices  with  that  inflicted  by 
the  drunken  and  drowsy  lays  of  a  '  boat-man'  and 
'landsman'?     May  not  the  rana palustris  find  his 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES. 


149 


parallel  in  the prolutus  vappa  nauta,  and  the  cwZe^,  or 
companion  pest,  in  the  '  landsman-passenger'  ? 

With  respect  to  the  much-disputed  term  viator^  its 
acceptation  in  the  most  simple  meaning,  as  above, 
seems  borne  out  by  several  considerations.  There  is 
no  instance  of  a  driver  of  horses  or  mules  being  called 
viator,  nor  any  reason  why  he  should  be :  besides, 
icliere  does  he  compose  himself  '  to  sleep'?  On  the 
other  hand,  there  is  a  reason  why  a  common  steerage- 
passenger  should  be  so  described ;  for  he  would  be 
just  the  sort  of  traveller  who  on  land  would  be  called 
a  way-farer :  and  so  the  term  is  used,  evidently  in 
contradistinction  to  the  better  class  of  itinerants,  fur- 
ther on,  in  verse  90—"  Callidus  ut  soleat  humeris 
portare  viator!'  And  again—"  durus  vindemiator 
et  invictus,  cui  saspe  viator  cessisset." — vii.  30. 

The  expression  also  *  tandem  fessus  dormire' 
seems  to  imply  an  unmoved  composing  of  himself  to 
natural  slumber  by  i\\Q  fessus  viator  even  less  soon 
than  might  be  expected,  as  opposed  to  the  irregular 
and  improper  stertit  supinus  of  the  nauta  piger,  who 
takes  advantage  of  the  unconscious  state  of  probably 
the  only  traveller  within  view-distance,  to  unyoke 
his  beast  and  steal  a  nap :  while  the  circumstance  of 
the  one  thus  dropping  asleep,  and  of  the  other  making 
formal  preparation,  proves  that  the  carriage  of  the 
boat  was  properly  in  charge  of  the  latter.  But  why 
did  not  our  travelling  party  within,  one  of  whom  at 
all  events  seems  to  have  noted  circumstantially  what 
was  passing,  expostulate  against  this  proceeding? 
Simply  because  the  nauta  was  not  in  a  state  to  ma- 


H 


150 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


ii 


nage  or  be  managed.  But  when,  on  awaking  in  the 
morning,  they  found  matters  still  m  statu  quo,  then 
condign  punishment  overtook  the  idlers  both  human 
and  veterine,  but  did  not  reach  the  viator. 

Orellius  is  entirely  mistaken  in  supposing  that  the 
passage  which  he  gives  from  Varro  proves  that  the 
viator  was  an  equiso.  Had  he  referred  to  the  appli- 
cation of  it  made  by  the  original  quoter  (Nonius  Mar- 
cellus,  De  Proprietate  Sermonis),  he  would  have  seen 
that  it  is  adduced  to  prove  an  extended  use  of  the 
term  from  its  applicability  to  a  totally  different  no- 
tion. Under  the  word  Equiso,  Marcellus  writes  thus 
— "  Equisones  non  equorum  tantum  moderatores  aut 
magistros,  sed  omnes  quibus  regimen  conceditur  cu- 
juslibet  rei  dici  posse  veteres  probaverunt.  Yarro, 
Marcipore :  '  Hie  in  ambivio  navem  conscendimus 
palustrem,  quam  nautici  equisones  per  viam  conduce- 
rent  loro.  "  In  Horace's  journey  we  have  simply  a 
7nula  in  charge  of  a  nauta,  in  place  of  these  equisones 
nautici. 


.     .     .     Prior  Sarmentus:  *  Equi  te 
Esse  feri  similem  dico'— Ridemus  :  et  ipse 

MeSSIUS,  *  ACCIPIO ;'  CAPUT  ET  MOVET — *  O  TUA  CORNU 
Nl  FORET  EXSECTO  FRONS,'  INQUIT  '  QUID  FACERES  CUM 

Sic  mutilus  miniteris' —  ?     .     .     . 

Ser.  I.  V.  56-60. 

A  PASSAGE  occurs  in  Pliny's  Natural  History  that 

seems  capable  of  throwing  some  new  light  on  the 

bearing  of  this  comparison.     A  connexion  between 

the  notion  implied  by  the  '  equusferusj  in  the  former 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  151 

part  of  Sarmentus'  taunt,  and  that  of  the  *  comu  ex- 
sectofrons'  in  the  latter,  has  never  been  clearly  made 
out:  and  the  general  tendency  of  comment  is,  by 
taking  them  separately,  to  add  to  the  frivolity  which 
must  be  admit  ;:ed  to  characterize  the  images  and  al- 
lusions of  the  context. 

Pliny,  in  describing  some  wild  sports  of  India, 
writes  as  follows:  "  Orseei Indi  simias  candentes  toto 
corpore  venantur :  asperrimam  autem  feram  mono- 
cerotem.reliquo  corpore  equo  similem,  capite  cervo,  pe- 
dibus  elephanto,  cauda  apro,  mugitu  gravi,  uno  comu 
nigro  media/ronjfecubitorumduumeminente.  Hanc 
feram  vivam  negant  capi."-N.  H.  viii.  31.  Vid.  DU- 

lenhurg.  ad  loc. 

We  are  certainly  not  entitled  to  infer  that '  Equus 
Ferus'  would  be  a  proper  technical  designation  for  the 
animal  known,  to  controversy  and  heraldry  at  least, 
as  the  Unicorn  ;  though  perhaps  it  would  not  be  more 
vague  than  ^sea-horse:  &c.,  as  applied  to  others:  nor 
is  it  to  be  denied  that  Pliny  employs  the  terms  else- 
where in  the  common  meaning  of '  wild  horse';  as,  for 
instance,—'  Septentrio  fert  et  equorum  greges  fero- 
rum,  sicut  asinorum  Asia  et  Africa.'— Ch.  16.    But, 
in  the  absence  of  any  stronger  objections  than  these, 
the  common  sense  of  the  passage  before  us  would 
be  apparently  improved  by  supposing  the  comparison 
borrowed  from  this  (real  or  imaginary)  extravaganza 
of  the  animal  tribe,  as  afterwards,  in  the  '  pastorem 
Cyclopa  saltare;  we  are  presented  with  a  picture  of 
the  monstrous  in  humanity. 


n 


152 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


NoN  QUIA,  M^cENAs,  Lydobum  quidquid  Eteuscos 
Incoluit  fines,  nemo  generosior  est  te, 
Nec  quod  avus  tibi  maternus  fuit  atque  paternus, 
Olim  qui  magnis  legionibus  imperitarent, 

Ut  PLERIQUE  SOLENT,  NASO  SUSPENDIS  ADUNCO 

Ignotos,  ut  me  libertino  patre  natum. 

Cum  referre  negas,  quali  sit  quisque  parente 
Natus,  dum  ingenuus,  persuades  hoc  tibi  verb, 
Ante  potestatem  Tulli  atque  ignobile  regnum, 
Multos  s^pe  viros  nullis  majoribus  ortos 
Et  vixisse  probos,  amplis  et  honoribus  auctos: 
Contra  L^vinum,  Valeri  genus  unde  Superbus 
Tarquinius  regno  pulsus  fuit,  unius  assis 
NoN  unquam  pretio  pluris  licuisse,  notante 

JUDICE,  QUO  NOSTI,  POPULO ;    QUI  STULTUS  HONORES 
S^PE  DAT  INDIGNIS,  ET  FAM^  SERVIT  INEPTUS  ; 

Qui  stupet  in  titulis  et  imaginibus. 

Quid  oportet 
Nos  facere,  a  vulgo  longe  lateque  remotos  ? 
Namque  esto,  populus  living  mallet  honorem 
QuAM  Decio  mandare  novo;  censorque  moveret 
Appius,  ingenuo  si  NON  essem  patre  natus  ; 
VeL  MERITO,  QUONIAM  in  propria  NON  pelle  quiessem. 

Sed  fulgente  trahit  constrictos  gloria  curru 
NoN  minus  ignotos  generosis. 

Ser.  I.  VI.  1-24. 
Were  it  not  that  promises  of  substituting  the  simple 
for  the  complex,  the  smooth  for  the  rugged,  naturally 
bespeak  for  themselves  a  favourable  prepossession, 
the  classical  reader  could  hardly  be  expected  even 
to  listen  to  cause  shown  here  for  believing  that  all 
the  learned,  prolix,  ingenious,  and  difficult  reasoning 


detached  passages  of  the  satires.       153 

that  has  been  resorted  to  for  connecting  the  line 
of  argument  throughout  this  exordium,  and  estab- 
lishing its  exact  relation  to  the  sequel,  is,  according 
to  the  ancient  proverbial  phrase,  the  '  feeling  for  a 
knot  in  a  bulrush.'  Yet  so  little  seems  necessary  to 
be  said,  for  the  purpose  of  making  this  evident,  that 
it  were  to  be  wished  the  quotation  of  the  extract  in 
extmso  could  be  dispensed  with,  as  its  length  must 
contrast  very  disproportionately  with  the  insignifi- 
cant dimensions  of  the  comment.  The  preceding 
subdivisional  arrangement  by  paragraphs,  however, 
exhibiting  a  new  and  easy  succession  oi protasis  and 
apodosis,  could  not  be  well  left  to  mere  imagination 
for  evidence  of  its  claims  to  adoption. 

Reliance  being  had  upon  the  reader's  memory  of 
the  points  arising  from  the  text,  it  may  be  remarked, 
that  the  controversy  seems  to  have  originated  mainly 
in  the  assumption  that  the    sentence  beginning— 
*  Namque  esto :  populus  Laevino  mallet,'  &c. — is  the 
introduction  of  a  new  protasis  ;  the  apodosis  appropri- 
ate to  which  is  the  principal  missing  link  of  the  chain. 
Now,  by  regarding  the  interval  from  '  Namque— to 
quiessem,' —merely  as  a  confirmation  of  the  answer 
implied  in  the  question—'  Quid  oportet  nos  facere  a 
vulgo    .    .   remotos'?— and  not  as  requiring  any  de- 
pendent clause  whatever  to  follow,  the  transition  to 
'  Sed  fulgente  trahit'  is  perfectly  unembarrassed.  To 
show  this  clearly,  a  brief  review  of  the  heads  of  the 
introduction  is  alone  wanting. 

After  complimenting  his  patron  upon  his  freedom 


154 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


from  class-prejudices,  by  a  graceful  allusion  to  him- 
self, Horace  proceeds  to  confirm  the  rectitude  of  the 
general  principle  involved  by  examples  taken  from  ex- 
treme and  opposite  political  instances ;  he  next  asks 
— '  What  should  be  my  conduct,  (or,  How  much 
more  should  /  acquiesce  in  all  this  ?)  removed  as  I 
am  '  far  from  the  vulgar  crowd's  ignoble  strife,'  (yet 
destitute,  as  before  confessed,  of  aristocratic  preten- 
sions?)—that  is,  he  professes  himself  to  be  exactly 
in  that  position  which  would  enable  him  best  to  ap- 
preciate, and  act  upon,  such  principles  as  those  stated. 

In  immediate  sequence  to  a  vulgo  longe  reniotos, 
(and  so  directly  depending  on  that  notion,  that  the 
new  sentence  is  but  the  exegesis  of  the  full  meaning 
and  result  of  being  '  a  vulgo  longe  remotos'),  he  adds 
— *  Namque  esto,'  &c. ;  meaning,  that  so  independent 
was  he,  in  fact,  of  the  mere  worldly  crowd,  that  if 
the  fickle  populace  chose  to  reverse  the  case  he  had 
supposed,  it  could  in  no  degree  affect  him  or  his 
judgment :  he  could  afford  to  allow  that  the  people 
should  even  prefer  the  worthless  to  the  worthy,  for 
any  difference  this  would  make  against  the  strength 
of  his  convictions;  and  that  the  legislator  should  in- 
troduce a  rank-qualification  clause,  which  could  only 
operate  to  his  disadvantage  when  he  should  be  caught 
out  of  his  own  sphere;  and  then  he  would  be  an  in- 
truder with  notice,  and  therefore  punishable  on  the 
merits,  which  would  reduce  the  matter  to  the  origi- 
nal personal  question. 

It  is  familiar  with  Horace  to  suggest  an  under- 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  155 

Stood  answer  rhetorically  by  the  pungent  force  of  a 
question.  And  if  here,  immediately  after  the  query 
'  Quid  oportetr  &c.,  we  imagine  its  virtual  answer  in- 
serted, the  force  of  *  Namque  esto\  as  introducing  a 
confirmation  of  it,  is  apparent.  Thus— Quid  oportet 

Nos  facere,  a  vulgo  longe  lateque  remotos? 
[Nempe  tuam  merid  normam  celebrare  probando. 
Nee  moveatpopuli  reeta  aut  sententia  prava;'] 
Namque  esto  populus  Lsevino  mallet  honorem,  &c.; 

esto  exactly  meaning—*  for  aught  /  care.' 

*  But,'  he  adds,  *  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of 
worldly  pride  is  the  attractive  object  with  men  in  ge- 
neral, causing  even  those  unknown  to  fame  to  despise 
their  inferiors,  and  proving  an  endless  source  both  of 
envy  of  success,  and  ridicule  of  obtrusive  demerit ;' 
•  Sed  fulgente  trahit  .  .  gloria,'  .  .  &c. :  and  thus 
the  subject  proceeds  naturally  and  connectedly. 

How  apposite  (?)  all  this  to  a  mushroom  ex-com- 
mandant of  a  Legion,  as  the  commentators  and  bio- 
graphers will  have  Horace  to  be !  For  it  is  observable, 
that  the  passage  which  heads  the  '  Biographical  Me- 
moir,' at  page  18,  follows  immediately  after  this 
hearty  and  humble  disavowal  of  an  aspiring  temper. 
Surely  a  strong  argument  in  favour  of  the  opinions 
there  advanced  is  derivable  from  the  entire  tenor  of 
the  Satire,  and  of  the  introduction  to  it  which  we 
have  just  now  been  considering.     It  must  not  be  for- 
gotten also  that  the  reading  of  regionibus  instead  of 
'  legionihus'  is  purely  conjectural,  and  supported  by 
no  higher  authority  than  that  of  Wakefield  and  Fea. 


I 


156 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


It  will  now  be  for  the  reader  to  say  with  what  pos- 
sible consistency  Horace  could  have  either  bestowed 
this  compliment,  or  reasoned  as  in  the  sequel,  were  the 
commonly  received  account  respecting  himself  true. 


Causa  fuit  pater  his,  qui  macro  pauper  agello 

NOLUIT  IN  FlAVI  LUDUM  me  MITTERE  ;    MAGNI 
Quo  PUERI,  MAGNIS  E  CENTURIONIBUS  ORTI, 
L^VO  SUSPENSI  LOCULOS  TABULAMQUE  LACERTO 

Ibant  octonis  referentes  Idibus  ^ra  ; 
Sed  puerum  est  ausus  Romam  portare  docendum 
Artes,  quas  doceat  quivis  eques  atque  senator 
Semet  prognatos.     Vestem  servosque  sequentes 
In  magno  ut  populo  si  qui  vidisset,  avita 

Ex  RE  PRiEBERI  SUMTUS  MIHI  CREDERET  ILLOS. 

Ser.  I.  VI.  71-80. 
It  is  a  much  easier  task  here  to  exhibit  the  utterly 
inconclusive  character  of  the  efforts  that  have  been 
made  to  interpret  the  expression—'  octonis  referentes 
Idibus*  o^m'— than  to  supply  anything  that  can  fairly 

*  The  junior  reader  will  be  safer  in  understanding  Idus  as 
having  been  originally  the  contracted  plural-form  of  Eih^^oes, 
oi)s— -than  in  taking  it  as  a  derivative  of  the  *  obsolete  verb  Iduo: 
ElSov^  means  the  phases  of  the  moon,  particularly  her  appearance 
at  the  full;  hence  the  middle  of  the  lunar  course;  and  so  the  mid- 
dle of  a  month,  even  by  the  solar  reckoning. 

The  word— ^5-m— properly  means  metallic  union,  or  the  re- 
duction of  simple  metals  to  a  compound:  and  so  is  near  akin  to 
As-sis,  which  was  at  first  a  Doric  form  of  eis,  one.  The  latter, 
in  Roman  usage,  came  early  to  signify  the  unit  in  coinage,  and 
the  former  to  be  indiscriminately  employed  to  mean  prepared 
copper,  brass,  or  bronze. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  157 

pretend  to  supersede  them.     Octonce,  as  a  general 
epithet  of  Idus,  seems  open  to  objections  which  none 
of  the   commentators   have   weighed.     And  these 
objections    are  three:    1st,  It  looks    retrospectively 
from  one  given  cardinal  date  to  another  (for  the 
Ides  are  supposed  present) ;  while,  as  a  term  of  reck- 
oning, it  should  be  expected  to  follow  the  rule  of  all 
other  such  terms  in  the  Roman  notation  of  the  days 
of  the  month.     2nd,  It  is  not  inclusive  of  the  two 
days  from  and  to  which  the  reckoning  is  had,  con- 
trary to  established  usage.     3rd,  It  even  involves  a 
contradiction  of  the  standing  designation  of  the  day 
to  which  it  is  supposed  to  refer  retrospectively:  and 
thus  the  same  interval  is  differently  stated  at  the  same 
time  by  the  numerical  appellatives  which  its  boun- 
daries borrow  from  the  interval  itself     Surely  such 
anomalies  as  these  would  apologize  even  for  a  strained 
interpretation  which  should  remove  them. 

The  context  plainly  contrasts  the  '  vestem  servos- 
que sequentes,'  which  the  generous  ambition  of  our 
author's  father  afforded  him,  with  the  comparatively 
menial  drudgery  to  which  the  sons  of  wealthier  pa- 
rents were  subjected,  as  represented  in  '  Lsevo  sus- 
pensi  loculos  tabulamque  lacerto.'  This  being  ad- 
mitted, it  would  be  likely  that  the  course  of  education 
to  which  these  minor  details  were  subordinate— the 
*  artes,  quas  doceat  quivis  eques  atque  senator  semet 
prognatos'— should  also  find  its  contrast  in  the  pre- 
vious picture;  and  when  we  place  before  us  the  fol- 
lowing sarcastic  description  of  the  prevailing  princi- 


158 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


pie  of  general  school-education,  in  those  days,  and 
of  Horace's  estimate  of  such, 

Romani  pueri  longis  rationibus  assem 

Discunt  in  partes  centum  diducere.     Dicat 

Filius  Albini,  si  de  quincunce  remota  est 

Uncia,  quid  superat?     Poteras  dixisse.     Triens.     Eu! 

Rem  poteris  servare  tuam.     Redit  uncia,  quid  fit  ? 

Semis.     An,  hsec  animos  aerugo  et  cura  peculi 

Cum  semel  imbuerit,  speramus  carmina  fingi 

Posse  linenda  cedro,  et  levi  servanda  cupresso  ? 

Epis.  ad  Pis.  325-32, 

we  may  safely  reject  altogether  the  idea  of  the 
verse  in  dispute  signifying  the  paymmt  of  school  fees, 
(the  introduction  of  the  mere  name  of  which,  with- 
out any  allusion  to  relative  amount,  could  not  in  the 
least  have  assisted  the  opposition  of  the  pictures), 
and  may  confine  it  to  the  practical  course  of  instruc- 
tion supplied. 

The  interest  of  money  and  general  pecuniary  cal- 
culations among  the  Romans  were  regulated  rela- 
tively to  the  Kalends  and  Ides  of  months.  In  the 
months  of  March,  May,  July,  and  October,  which, 
as  with  us,  were  months  of  thirty-one  days  each,  the 
Ides  are  known  to  have  fallen  on  the  15th;  and  ac- 
cordingly these  months  would  afford  little  scope  for 
the  practical  exercise  of  ingenuity,  in  reckoning  the 
interest  for  days,  &c.,&c.,  relatively  to  so  nearly  equal 
a  division  of  time.  But  the  case  would  be  otherwise 
in  the  remaining  eight  months,  in  which  the  Ides 
occurred  on  the  13th,  and  the  last  day  of  the  month 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  159 

might  range  anywhere  from  28  to  31  inclusive  (for 
the""  Bissextile  day  gave  a  29th  day,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  to  February  in  leap  year,  although 
there  was  no  29^A  of  February):  and  the  adjustment 
of  computations  to  meet  these  varying  cases  at  sight 
would  form  a  natural  and  useful  exercise  in  a  mere 
arithmetical  point  of  view.     Query,  then,  may  the 
passage  mean—*  Computing  sums  by,  or  correspond- 
ingly to,  the  eighthly-recurring  {or  thirteenth-day)  Ides' 
—as  a  general  representative  expression  of  minute 
performance  in  the  detail  of  learning  to  keep  accounts? 
The  conjecture  certainly  cannot  affect  to  rest  on  more 
substantial  ground  than  the  difference  between  an 
absolutely  great  and  a  relatively  small  difficulty  of  in- 
terpretation, being  ruled  in  its  favour,  would  afford: 
but,  nevertheless,  had  it  been  broached  by  some  early 
popular  commentator,  it  may  not  be  improbable  that 
it  would  ere  this  have  found  numerous  supporters. 


.     .    .     Quid  mult  a?  pudicum 
(Qui  primus  virtutis  honos)  servavit  ab  omni 
NoN  solum  facto,  verum  opprobrio  quoque  turpi. 

Ser.  I.  VI.  82-4. 

The  above  parenthesis  is  probably  intended  to  sug- 
gest the  same  imagery  as  that  by  which  honos  or 
honor  is  elsewhere  representative  of  the  hloom  of 
flowers  and  fruits:  as,  "  Non  semper  i^emfiorihus  est 
honor  vernis."— Car.  II.  xi.  9-10.  ''  Et  quoscumque 


160 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


feret  cultus  tibi  fundus  honores." — Ser.  II.  v.  13.  At 
least,  if  the  reader's  taste  approve  the  suggestion,  the 
sense  of  the  context  will  not  forbid  his  adopting  it. 
Innocence  is  thus  'virtue's  first  bloom:'  reformation 
cannot,  at  the  best,  be  more  than  a  second  growth  of 
the  same. 


Carne  tamen  quamvis  distat  nihil  hac  magis  illa, 

Imparibus  formis  deceptum  te  patet 

Ser.  II.  ii.  29-30. 

In  the  whole  range  of  classical  literature  there  is  not 
a  passage  that  has  caused  more  perplexity,  both  to 
readers  and  writers,  than  that  now  before  us.  One 
enigmatist  makes  many:  and  accordingly  we  have 
here  upwards  of  a  dozen  most  ingenious  puzzles  con- 
structed out  of  the  above  apparently  scanty  mate- 
rials ;  a  select  assortment  of  which,  and  those  of  the 
newest  mould,  will  be  found  in  Orellius.  The  old 
ones  are  as  familiar  as  the  riddle  of  the  Sphinx. 

Still  '  confusion  worse  confounded'  is  the  aggre- 
gate result :  and  the  student  is  fain  to  acquiesce  at 
last  in  merely  recording  in  memory  the  judgments  of 
others,  while  they  in  effect  smother  his  own. 

The  slenderness  of  a  guiding  thread  will  not  be 
despised  by  him  who  seeks  to  escape  from  a  laby- 
rinth. And  if,  among  such  a  crowd  of  theories,  any 
of  which  may  be  false,  even  the  least  principle  can 
be  fixed  which  must  be  true,  the  interpreter  may 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  161 

yet  have  hope.  Now,  the  student  is  invited  to  try 
the  validity  of  the  following,  viz.— The  probability  of 
any  construction  of  the  given  passage  being  true  must 
be  inversely  as  its  complexity.  This  would  virtually  put 
out  of  account  all  elaborate  and  far-fetched  views— 
from  those  which  derive  a  government  for  *  came' 
from  the  remote  '  vesceris^  or  '  velis  tergere  palatum^' 
to  more  modern  curiosities  in  the  art  of  word-fencing; 
if,  therefore,  it  be  certainly  correct,  a  manifest  advan- 
tage is  derivable  from  its  use. 

The  commentators,  one  and  all,  seem  to  have  for- 
gotten who  it  is  that  speaks  the  original  words— that 
he  is  neither  a  Lucretius,  a  Persius,  nor  yet  Horace 
himself,  but— the  rustic  Ofellus.     The  whole  essay 
is,  no  doubt,  from  the  pen  of  Horace  :  but  he  most 
distinctly  professes  to  speak  in  the  character,  and  in 
the  words  (nee  mens  hie  sermo,  &c.,  vv.  2-3)  of  the 
'  abnormis  sapiens;'  the  only  verses  in  which  he  him- 
self discourses  j9r^/>na /j^r^ona  being  vv.  2,  3,  112- 
15— or  six  out  of  136.  Hence  a  studied  simplicity  o{ 
deduction,  illustration,  and  phraseology,  consistently 
in  keeping  not  less  with  the  character  of  the  hamlet- 
philosopher  who  speaks,  than  of  the  primitive  doc- 
trines which  he  inculcates,  characterize  the  piece 
throughout.  Addressing  his  (supposed,  and  evidently 
village)  audience  by  the  homely  title,  *  bonij  he  pro- 
ceeds to  unfold  probably  the  plainest  system  of  admo- 
nitions and  reasons  contained  in  any  didactic  treatise 
of  antiquity.    And  can  it  be  reasonably  he]d  possible 
that  any  interpretation  which  would  attribute  rheto- 


i 


1 


« 


162 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES. 


163 


rical  complication  to  a  single  passage  supposed  by  the 
judicious  Horace  to  be  addressed  by  such  a  speaker 
to  such  an  audience,  can  be  a  true  one? 

Assuming  then  the  truth  ofour  fundamental  rule— 
1st,  Let  us  discard  the  notion  of  a  double  ablative  in 
verse  29,  as  making  a  construction  against  which,  in 
any  view,  this  rule  would  strongly  operate.  2nd,  Let 
the  materials  of  construction  be  sought  exclusively 
from  the  sentence,  itself,  as  in  all  the  other  sentences 
of  the  piece;  the  connexion  with  the  previous  context 
implied  in  '  hac'  and  '  illal  being  of  course  observed. 
3rd,  Let  '  magis'  be  referred,  as  is  most  natural,  to 
the  given,  the  allowed,  difference  between  the  pavo 
and  the gallina  (the  overlooking  of  which  point  has  been 
the  root  0/ the  whole  difficulty).   Finally,  Combine  (as 
suggested  by  Matthiie)  '  nihil  magis'  as  one  notion,  ac- 
cording to  the  Greek  analogy  of  olUv  re  /xaWo^  Thus 
the  sentence  will  be  found  to  be  nothing  more  than  a 
plain  denial  of  what  may  be  called  the  argumentum 
a  visibili  ad  invisibile— thus— '  However,  although 
the  former  (the  caro pavonis)  differs  nothing  the  more 
(i.  e.  because  of  the  given  external  difference)  from  the 
latter,  ^tis  plain  you  are  deceived  {into  thinking  that 
It  does)  by  the  external  dissimilarity.' 

This  simple  theory  likewise  supersedes  the  neces- 
sity of  supposing  any  question  involved  of  the  actual 
relative  merits  of  the  two  species  alluded  to.  This 
would  be  a  matter  of  mere  taste,  and  on  which  Ofellus 
would  have  probably  seemed  an  incompetent  autho- 
rity.    But  he  merely  deals  with  the  overt  fact  that 


impar  forma  does  not  of  itself  infer  proportionately 

imparem  camem. 

Might  it  be  that  the  troubled  spirit  of  this  sentence 

is  at  length  laid  ? 


.      .       .       .      TANTUM  HOC  EDISSERE, — QUO  ME 
^GROTARE  PUTES  ANIMI  VITIO  ?      ACCIPE  :  PRIMUM, 
1.   ^DIFICAS;   HOC  EST,  LONGOS  IMITARIS,  ETC.  y 

Ser.  II.  III.  306-8. 

2.  Adde  poemata  NUNC,  HOC  est,  oleum  adde  camino; 

3.  Non  dico  horrendam  rabiem.    Jam  desine.    Cultum 

4.  Majorem  censu.    Teneas,  Damasippe,  tuis  te. 

5.  MiLLE  puellarum    .    .    .    furores. 

Ibim.  321,  323-5. 

The  ludicrous  correspondence  of  the  answers  of 
Damasippus  with  the  wording  of  certain  of  his  own 
previous  classifications  has  not  been  remarked.  He 
in  effect  reduces  the  '  madness'  of  his  disputant 
indiscriminately  to  several  of  the  heads  just  before 
enumerated.  Allowance  being  made  for  a  slight  dis- 
tortion of  terms,  which  is  quite  natural  to  the  case, 
the  following  verses  will  illustrate  the  phraseology 
of  their  numerical  correlatives  above  with  tolerable 
exactness. 

1.  JEdificante  casas  qui  sanior? — v.  275. 

.     .     .     adde  cruorem 

2.  Stultitise,  atque  ignem  gladio  scrutare— 275-6. 

3.  Mille  ovium  insanus  morti  dedit     .     .     •     — 197. 

4.  Nunc  age  luxuriam  et  Nomentanum  arripe  mecum.— 224. 

5.  Si  puerilius  his  ratio  esse  evincet  amare ;— 250. 

l2 


J 


164 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


In  the  first  two  a  play  upon  words  points  the  deri- 
sion :  for  it  is  plain  that  the  term  '  cedificas'  (requiring 
an  explanation  of  its  application,  which  the  speaker 
accordingly  supplies)  would  not  naturally  suggest 
itself  in  the  case,  but  occurs  fron  the  previous  con- 
text; and  that  the  '  adde  cruorem  stultitice  atque  ignem 
scrutare  ferro'  finds  a  ready  parallel  in  '  addepoemata 
[ambitioni],  hoc  est,  oleum  adde  camino\  the  illustra- 
tion being  nearly  identical.  In  the  last  three  a  for- 
mal reduction  to  class  is  evident. 


Unde  et  quo  Catius?  etc.     . 

Ser.  II.  IV.  1  to  end. 
This  is  probably  the  most  elaborate  satirical  produc- 
tion (in  the  modern  acceptation  of  the  term)  that  has 
descended  to  us  from  remote  ages.     But,  from  the 
delicate  ingenuity  of  its  irony,  and  the  artful  invo- 
lution of  its  points,  it  is  peculiarly  liable,  as  has  been 
before  remarked,  to  escape  the  appreciation  of  stu- 
dents.    Hence  the  continual  complaints  of  its  insi- 
pidity that  every  lecturer  has  heard  in  his  classes. 
It  is  obviously  impossible  here  to  do  more  justice  to 
the  composition  than  generally  to  recommend  every 
word  of  its  pregnant  contents  to  the  re-consideration 
of  any  who  may  have  lightly  passed  them  over.  And 
this  purpose  may  perhaps  be  forwarded  by  com- 
paring it  with  the  Second  Satire  of  this  Book  ('Ofelli 
Sermo'),  which  has  been  just  now  considered. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  SATIRES.  165 

The  moral  of  these  two  essays  is  nearly  identical. 
But  a  stronger  contrast  can  scarcely  be  imagined  than 
that  which  the  different  modes  of  conveying  it  re- 
spectively exhibit.    In  the  Second  Satire  a  virtue  is 
gently  impressed,  in  the  Fourth  an  opposite  vice  is 
smartly  ridiculed.     The  chief  character  in  the  one 
is  a  plain-spoken  swain,  in  whose  entire  reasoning  in 
praise  of  frugal  fare  there  is  tzo^  on^  ambiguity;  in  the 
other  a  pedantic  cit  is  made  to  affect  the  technical 
abstruseness  of  scientific  diction,  while  he  recom- 
mends the  receipts  of  cooks  and  gluttons.     In  the 
former,  unvitiated  nature  is  directly  vindicated :  in 
the  latter,  perverted  art  is  ironically  arraigned. 

What  ridicule  can  be  more  exquisite— after  the 
expectation  of  some  wondrous  philosophic  revela- 
tions has  been  wrought  up  to  a  high  pitch— than  the 
formal  precept—"  Longa  quibus  fades  ovis  erit,  ilia 
memento''  ^c?    What  sarcasm  more  pungent  than 
the  mock-contempt  of—"  Sunt  quorum  ingeniurn  nova 
tantumcrustulaprornif'?  What  a  hearty  laugh  must 
have  been  called  forth  by—"  Est  operw  pretium  du- 
plicis  pernoscere  juris  naturam''—md—"  Immane  est 
vitium  angusto  vagos  pisces  urgere  catino"  ?  Could  the 
depraved  folly  of  the  gourmand  be  more  happily  ex- 
emplified than  in—"  Vinea  submittit  capreas  non  sem- 
per edules''?  where  the  vine  is  represented  as  a  nurse 
of  kids  for  his  especial  gratification,  the  mischief  done 
by  these  animals  to  such  property  being  immaterial 
in  his  eyes,  in  comparison  to  the  contingency  of  his 
palate  being  disappointed. 


166 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


But  we  must  reluctantly  bid  farewell  to  the  placid 
Ofellus  and  the  flippant  Catius. 


Septimus  octavo  propior  jam  fugerit  annus, 
Ex  quo  M^cenas  me  c(epit  habere  suorum 
In  numero    .    .     . 

Ser.  II.  VI.  40-2. 
It  is  an  ungrateful,  if  not  an  ungracious,  task  to  take 
exception  to  the  only  etymological  remark  that  occurs 
within  the  compass  of  Milman's  Life  of  Horace.  The 
comment  will  be  found  in  note  (49),  which  reads  as 
follows — "  Some  construe  '  Septimus  octavo  propior 
jam  fugerit  annus,'  as  only  six  years  and  a  half  The 
past,/w^OTV,  surely  implies  that  the  seventh  year  had 
actually  elapsed,  and  above  half  a  year  more." 

Surely  not;  tor  fugerit  is  not  the  past,  but  the  com- 
mon future -perfect   To  admit  such  a  position  would 
be  to  abandon  the  fundamental  distinctions  recog- 
nised in  the  Latin  language  between  the  indicative 
and  subjunctive  moods.  Upon  particular  meanings  of 
the  future-perfect  tense,  a  few  remarks  are  reserved 
for  a  more  peculiar  occasion  of  its  occurrence.     For 
the  present  it  is  sufficient  to  cite  the  following  parallel 
instances  of  its  use.—"  Dum  loquimur  fugerit  invida 
aetas,"  i.  e. »  while  we  yet  speak,  (or,  ere  we  cease  to 
speak)  envious  duration  shall  have  fled'— C  ah.  I  xi. 
7-8:  and  again,  similarly  future  in  conception  (the 
leading  subjunctive  characteristic)  is  the  following 
—"Emerint  sylvestrem  animum"— Geor.  ii.  25. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OE  THE  SATIRES.  167 

It  is  probable  that  the  proximity  of  jam  may  have 
caused  the  inadvertence.  But  a  case  of  its  unques- 
tioned construction  with  the  future  occurs  in— 
''  Jam  te  premet  nox."— Car.  I.  iv.  16.  Indeed  the 
imitation  of  the  passage  by  Swift  evidently  shows 
that  a  future  reference  would  be  the  plain,  natural 
suggestion  of  the  text  — 

'Tis,  let  me  see,  three  years  and  more, 

October  next  it  will  be  four, 
Since  Harley  bade  me  first  attend, 
And  chose  me  for  an  humble  friend. 

With  this  note  of  Milman,  another  statement,  in 
page  5Q,  viz.—"  It  was  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  fami- 
liarity with  Maecenas  that  this  Satire  was  composed" 
—must  fall  to  the  ground.  Where  we  have  so  few 
direct  dates  furnished  from  the  text,  we  should  be 
slow  to  disturb  those  that  offer.  On  the  whole,  the 
passage  may  be  rendered  thus—'  The  seventh,  nearer 
{at  it's  present  stage)  to  the  eighth  year  {than  it  is  to 
the  sixth),  shall  presently  have  fled,  since,^  &c. 


MULVIUS  ET  SCURRiE,  TIBI  NON  REFERENDA  PRECATI, 

^^^^^^^^^     .    .     •     •  Ser.  L  VII.  36-7. 

Whence  do  they  depart?  '  From  the  house  of  Ho- 
race,' say  all  commentators.  That  is,  any  unexpected 
invitation  from  M^cenas  which  findsHorace  Haudan- 
tern  semrum  olus'  (as  stated  immediately  before)  and 


i 


168 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


acquiescing  happily  in  domestic  retirement,  at  the 
same  time  obliges  him  to  dismiss  a  band  of  jesters, 
that  he  habitually  employs  to  amuse  his  solitude] 
when  '  nusquam  forte  vocatus  ad  ccenamr     Truly' 
Mulvius  deals  severely  with  himself  in  declaring  at 
his  departure— 'Fateor  me  ventre  levem  dud;  nasum 
nidore  supinor':— ehe  no  one  would  have  thus  inter- 
preted  his  chagrin  at  being  disappointed  of  sharing 
in  the  '  securum  ohs\     His  likings  and  his  loss  seem 
both  too  strongly  drawn  for  the  occasion.     Horace 
also  has  with  a  bad  grace  in  one  sense  elsewhere  in- 
stanced as  a  lunatic  a  person  who  was  fond  of  being 
— *  In  vacuo  Icetus  sessor  plausorque  theatro' 

The  reader  probably  by  this  time  suspects  that  a 
departure  from  the  house  of  Mcecenas  is  about  to  be 
suggested  as  being  here  meant:  that  it  is  to  be  con- 
sidered more  appropriate  to  the  nature  of  the  case  to 
suppose  that  when  the  great  man  alters  the  usual  con- 
vivial arrangements  of  the  evening  to  a  tete-a-tete  with 
a  literary  friend  (' jusserit  ad  se  serum  convivam*), 
the   subordinate  ministers  to  the  banquet's   mirth 
receive  an  unexpected  dismissal,  the  chief  of  whom 
vents  his  disappointment  upon  its  unwitting  cause,  to 
whom  he  naturally  attributes  the  same  sycophantic 
motives  that  are  professional  with  himself. 

It  would  be  hardly  respectful  to  the  reader,  in 
such  a  case,  to  do  more  than  merely  to  place  the 
hint  at  his  disposal. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS.  169 


The  Lyrical  performances   of  Horace,  as  may  be 
naturally  anticipated,  aflford  but  little  scope  for  new 

comment. 

Excellence  in  this  species  of  composition  infers 
characteristics  most  opposite  to  the  abstruse  or  the 
equivocal:  and,  in  a  general  way,  it  is  only  where 
the  associations  are  obsolete,  in  the  manner  alluded 
to  in  the  Introductory  Observations,  or  the  words  un- 
certain, that  we  should  expect  to  encounter  difficulty 
of  construction  or  uncertainty  of  meaning.  Happily 
neither  of  these  disadvantages  dulls,  to  any  appre- 
ciable extent,  the  clear-voiced  lays  of  the  Venusine 
bard.     In  these   effusions,  distinctness  of  imagery 
and  simplicity  of  tone  blend  in  unbroken  harmony 
with  rhythmical  grace  and  metrical  exactness.    The 
reader  is  privileged  to  commune  with  the  poet,  with- 
out introduction  from  his  expositors ;  to  perceive 
without  effort,  and  to  admire  without  reserve.  Even 
the  sober  diction  of  commentary  has  often  caught 
a  relieving  freshness  from  the  associations  of  the 
theme:  and  from  the  superficial  glosses  of  Francis  to 
the  elaborate  illustrations  of  Mitscherlitz,  the  annota- 
tions of  the  learned  generally  impart  here  less  of  hea- 
viness to  the  reader's  thoughts  than  when  exercised 
on  any  other  equal  portion  of  ancient  poesy.     To  the 
aids  thus  already  furnished  the  reader  may  generally 
resort  with  satisfaction.     It  is  merely  intended  here 
to  submit  a  very  few  passing  remarks  on  some  ex- 


170 


THE  WORKS  OF  HOBACE  EXAMINED. 


I 


pressions,  together  with  an  examination  of  the  only 
(two  or  three)  admittedly  difficult  passages  found  in 
this  department. 


Haud  paravero 

Quod  aut  avarus  ut  Chremes  terra  premam,  etc. 

Ep.  I.  32-3. 

EhEU  !  TRANSLATOS  alio  MiEREBIS  AMORES : 
AST  EGO  VICISSIM  RISERO. 

Ep.  XV.  23-4. 
Notwithstanding  the  elaborate  disquisitions  that 
profess  to  illustrate  the  precise  nature  of  the  differ- 
ence between  indicative  and  subjunctive  enunciation, 
no  student  will  be  likely  to  reject  beforehand  the  least 
particle  of  new  theory  on  the  ground  that  the  sub- 
ject is  already  sufficiently  intelligible  :  and  the  pre- 
ceding sentences  are  selected  as  affording  a  simple 
illustration  of  a  new  principle  here  proposed  for  sub- 
dividing the  meaning  of  the  form  commonly  called 
the  future-perfect,  or  'futurum  exactum'  It  has  been 
noticed  by  philologists  that  this  tense  is  sometimes 
used  where  a  mere  indicative  future  misrht  be  ex- 
pected;  and  it  is  to  this  feature  of  the  case  that  the 
reader's  attention  is  now  particularly  requested. 

To  speak  strictly,  a  future  act  or  state  must  be 
regarded,  relatively  to  the  time  at  which  a  speaker 
utters  anything  respecting  it,  only  as  a  Jiiental  concep- 
tion. Hence  we  should  naturally  expect  that  all  fu- 
ture expressions  would  be  subjunctively  conveyed. 
In  practice,  however,  the  indicative  form  prevails  for 


i 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYBICS.  171 

the  future  absolute,  no  doubt  by  force  of  the  instinc- 
tive argument  from  analogy  by  which  we  transfer  the 
idea  of  certainty  from  the  experience  of  the  past.  The 
reason  why  the  expression  of  a  purely  future-perfect 
notion  is  confined  to  the  subjunctive  would  appear 
to  be,  because  it  is,  if  the  expression  may  be  allowed, 
a  conception  within  a  conception,  and  therefore  neces- 
sarily limited  to  the  conceptive  mood.      But  where 
the  notion  is  imperfectly  future,  and  yet  conveyed  by 
this  tense,  query,  would  it  not  be  more  philosophical, 
if  what  has  been  now  said  be  true,  to  consider  this 
as  the  strictest  form  of  the  proper  expression  of  the 
future  absolute;  and  the  indicative  use,  however  ge- 
neral, as  a  conventional  tranference  of  the  phraseo- 
logy of  the  past  and  present  to  the  future,  rather 
than  as  an  exception  unaccounted  for?  In  this  view 
the  import  of  the  verbal-form  will  appear  very  dif- 
ferent in  the  two  sentences  quoted ;  and  none  are 
likely  to  be  found  which  will  not  be  reducible  to 
either.     In  the  former,  the  notion  of  the  imperfect 
future  is  put  in  a  rigidly  conceptive  form— ^  Haud 
paravero:  i.  e.  '  I  think  I  shall  not;  &c.,  or, '  If  I  know 
my  own  mind,  I  shall  not;  &c.    In  the  latter  the  pro- 
per future-perfect  appears  in—'  you  shall  bewail,  &c., 
but  /,  in  my  turn,  shall  (previously)  have  enjoyed  my 
laugh:     Thus  the  future-proper  might  be  as  good  a 
designation  for  the  subjunctive  tense  in  the  former 
instance,  as  the  future-perfect  is  universally  admitted 
to  be  in  cases  like  the  latter. 


172 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


Ah  !  Ah  !  solutus  ambdlat  veneficje 
scientioris  carmine. 

NON  USITATIS,  VaRE,  POTIONIBUS, 

(O  MULTA  FLETURUM  CAPUT  !) 
Ad  Mfi  RECURRES  I  NEC  VOCATA  MENS  TUA 

Marsis  redibit  vocibus; 
Majus  parabo,  majus  infundam  tibi 
Fastidienti  poculum. 

Ep.  v.  71-8. 

In  connexion  with  this  passage,  a  modern  edition  of 
some  of  the  Idyls  of  Theocritus  contains  the  follow- 
ing remarks: — '*  The  editor  avails  himself  of  this  op- 
portunity to  suggest,  that  the  passage  preceding  these 
lines  in  Horace, 

.     .     .     '  Nee  vocata  mens  tua 
Marsis  redibit  vocibus,' 

which  appears  to  him  to  be  erroneously  explained 
by  all  the  commentators,  should  be  understood  thus: 
*  Nor  is  it  by  mere  Marsian  spells  that  your  soul 
shall  be  recalled  to  me.'  Thus — nee  Marsis  vocibus 
corresponds  with — non  usitatis  potionibus,  and  '  re- 
dibit' to  '  recurres' — and  thus  also  there  is  an  addi- 
tional propriety  in  the  repetition  of  Majus — majus 

in  the  following  verse."* 

It  is  to  be  feared  the  erroneous  explanations  have 
not  been  altogether  removed  by  the  comment  of  the 
learned  editor.  It  seldom  happens  in  such  cases  that 

*  See  page  108  of  '*  A  Selection  from  the  Remains  of  Theoc- 
ritus.    By  Frederick  H.  Ringwood,  A.  M."     Dublin,  1846. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


173 


any  course  is  open  to  an  objector  beyond  a  reference 
to  the  reader's  experience,  and  to  the  induction  of  par- 
ticulars which  the  labours  of  eminent  lexicographers 
and  philologists  have  compiled  for  general  use.  To 
these  tests  the  following  statement  is  now  submitted, 
namely,— that  whenever  either  Mens  or  Animus  is 
said  redire,  the  phrase  intimates  a  return  to  the  natural 
owner,  or  individual  whose  it  is  by  nature:— Thus  in 

Ovid "  Et  mens  et  rediit  verus  in  ora  color." — Art. 

ni.  730.    "...   Isto  verbo  animus  mihi  rediit ^ — 
Ter.  Hec.  m.  2.  12. 

All  argument  founded  on  the  natural  and  general 
meaning  of  redeo,  and  upon  the  undisputed  import 
of  kindred  expressions,  is  here  dispensed  with;  such 
as  *  redire  ad  se^  whether  in  a  good  or  bad  sense,— 
"  redeat  in  viam."— Ter.  An.  i.  2.  19.    "...  tunc 
mens  et  sonus  relapsus,  atque  notus  in  vultus  honor." 
Ep.  xvii.  17-8.     "  Et  tu,  potes  nam,  solve  me  de- 
mentia!'—Ih.  45.    (The  last  two  passages  belong  to 
a  prayer  addressed  to  this  same  Canidia.)     "  Ani- 
mumque  reddas."— Carm.  T.  xvi.  28,  &c.     Nor  is  it 
necessary  to  insist  upon  any  exception  which  might 
be  taken  to  the  rendering  of  'mens  by  the  term  '  soul' 
in  preference  to   *  reason^  in  the  translation.      The 
classical  usage  of  the  verb  in  the  given  association  is 
alone  relied  upon,  together  with  reference  to  the 
train  of  ideas  running  through  the  whole  context. 
The  sting  of  Canidia's  complaint  is  that  the  subject 
of  her  spells  '  solutus  amhulat  veneficae  scientioris 
carmine':  and  hence  a  double  threat— 1st,  That  he 


174 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


175 


shall  be  re-consigned  to  thraldom:  2nd,  Thsit future 
escape  shall,  during  her  pleasure,  be  impossible,  even 
though  sought  by  aid  of  proverbially  potent  spells ; 
for  that  she  majus  parabii,  &c. 


lo  TrIUMPHE  !  NEC  JUGURTHINO  PAREM 

Bello  reportasti  ducem, 
Neque  Africanum,  cut  super  Carthaginem 
Virtus  sepulchrum  condidit. 

Ep.  IX.  23-6. 

The  foregoing  has  proved  a  most  unsatisfactory  pas- 
sage to  commentators,  and  therefore  to  readers. 

The   objections   urged   by  Dr.  Bentley   against 
*  African^  (referred,  as  it  must  be,  to  bello)  have  been 
wisely  allowed  by  most :  but,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
is  an  unpleasant  abruptness,  and  a  striking  want  of 
symmetrical  arrangement,  in  the  solitary  word  Afri- 
canum, understood  as  a  proper  name,  following  im- 
mediately upon  the  elogsint  paraphrastic  allusion  to 
Marius ;  and  as  a  proper  name  it  is  invariably  ren- 
dered.    But  it  should  be  remembered  that  such  use 
of  an  honorary  appellative  is  more  colloquial  than 
poetical.     And  accordingly  here,  *  reportasti  Africa- 
num' is  less  likely  to  mean—'  Thou  didst  bear  back 
Africanus\  than — '  Thou  didst  bear  back  one  (who 
left  home  without  such  title)  as  "  Africanus'' ' :  and 
the  whole  passage  may  be  understood  thus — *  Nee 
{ilium)  Jugurthino  bello  (nobilem)  reportasti  ducem 


parem  (Ccesari)]  neque  (alterum  reportando  saluta- 
turn)  "  Africanum." '  As  Marius  (strangely  enough) 
derived  no  title  from  his  Numidian  conquests,  the 
correspondence  of  the  clauses  would  be  thus  ren- 
dered as  complete  as  circumstances  would  allow  our 
author  to  make  it. 

It  is  strange  that  any  doubt  should  exist  about 
referring  this  allusion  to  the  younger  Africanus :  the 
parallelism  of  another  passage—"  Qui  duxit  ab  op- 
PRESSA  meritum  Carthagine  nomen" — Ser.  II.  i.  ^^ 
appearing  quite  conclusive  as  to  which  of  the  indi- 
viduals bearing  that  name  Horace  (in  part,  perhaps, 
from  the  intimacy  with  Lucilius,  upon  which  he 
seems  to  dwell  with  pleasure)  had  more  habitually 
in  view.  Besides  this,  the  balance  of  honourable 
mention  in  other  distinguished  connexions  turns  de- 
cidedly in  favour  of  the  junior  of  these  two  remark- 
able men. 

The  epitomist  of  the  forty-ninth  Book  of  Livy  thus 
records  of  him — "  Quum  virtutem  ejus  et  Cato,  vir 
promptioris  ad  vituperandum  linguae,  in  senatu  sic 
prosecutus  est  ut  diceret,  reliquos,  qui  in  Africa  mili- 
tarent  umbras  militare,  Scipionem  vigere ;  et  populus 
Komanus  eo  favore  complexus,  ut  comitiis  plurimaj 
eum  tribus  consulem  scriberent,  quum  hoc  per  ajta- 
tem  non  liceret :"  and  this  while  he  had  as  yet  dis- 
tinguished himself  no  farther  in  war,  than  by  retriev- 
ing losses  incurred  in  the  first  siege  of  Carthage  in 
the  opening  of  the  third  Punic  war,  attempted  by  the 
Consuls  L.  Marcius  and  M.  Manlius. 


176  THE  WORKS  OF  HOBACE  EXAMINED. 

Again,  in  the  DeNatura  Deorum,Q,iceTo  attributes 
to  one  of  his  dialogi  personce  the  following  notable 
expression  «...  quod,  ut  e  patre  audivi,  L.  Tudi- 
tano  et  M'.  Aquillio*  consulibus  evenerat:  quo  qui- 
dem  anno  P.  Africanus,  sol  alter,  extinctus  est."— 
II.  V.     The  spirit  of  romance  in  which  the  exploits 
of  Hannibal  have  been  recounted  would  appear  to 
have  imparted  an  air  of  mystery  and  uncertainty  to 
the  history  of  his  conqueror  also,  which  contrast 
strongly  with  the  substantial  reminiscences  resulting 
from  the  actual  destruction  of  Carthage,  and  thus 
place  the  later  hero  more  prominently  in  the  fore- 
ground: though  the  tone  of  melancholy  which  softens 
the  proud  reminiscence  revived  in  the  final  clause  is 
but  too  appropriate  to  the  unhappy  end  of  each  of 
the  glorious  Scipios. 

And  here  lies  a  deep  vein  of  delicate  compliment 
to  Cajsar,  m  the  inference  that  in  a  bright  future  also 
his  destmies  should  transcend  those  of  a  Marius  and 
a  Scipio.  Cffisar  consolidates  a  kingdom,and  achieves 
lor  himself  imperial  prestige  by  Aw  African  (^ayn. 
tian)  conquest;  in  Scipio's  instance,  '  Virtue  reared 
to  hira  (but)  a  sepulchral  monument'  upon  the  ruins 
of  a  fallen  state  :  while  the  eventful  fate  of  Marius 
the  dismemberer  of  his  country,  is  merged  in  solenm' 
Silence. 

*  This  consulate  exactly  corresponds  with  the  year  b  c   128 
the  date  of  the  death  of  the  younger  Africanus.  '    '        ' 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


177 


non  incisa  notis  marmora  publicis, 
Per  qu^  spiritus  et  vita  redit  bonis 
Post  mortem  ducibus,  non  celeres  fug^, 

REJECTiEQUE  RETRORSUM  HaNNIBALIS  MIN^E, 

Non  incendia  Carthaginis  impi^, 
Ejus  qui  domita  nomen  ab  Africa 
Lucratus  rediit,  clarius  indicant 
Laudes,  quam  Calabr^  Pierides. 

Carm.  IV.  VIII.  13-20. 

This  much  controverted  passage  is  taken  here,  out  of 
regular  order,  in  connexion  with  that  just  now  exa- 
mined, as  deriving  from  it  some  amount  of  illustra- 
tion ;  so  far,  at  least,  as  fixing  the  identity  of  the 
younger  Africanus  in  this  place  also  is  concerned. 

The  Romans  could  not  believe  themselves  su- 
perior to  rivalry  so  long  as  Carthage  existed;  a  feel- 
ing well  instanced  in  the  familiar  *  Delenda  est  Car- 
thago' of  Cato.  Hence,  together  with  the  considera- 
tion of  the  tremendous  power  evinced  by  that  state 
in  its  final  struggle,  they  regarded  the  memory  of  the 
consummator  of  the  destruction  of  their  dreaded  an- 
tagonist (*  homines  postrema  meminere,'  says  Julius 
Csesar),  with  a  degree  of  admiration  and  gratitude, 
which  posterity,  taking  the  retrospect  through  a 
colder  but  clearer  medium,  may  conceive  more  due 
to  him  who  first  taught  the  immortal  Hannibal  the 
lesson  of  defeat.  From  these  circumstances,  along 
with  the  cause  shown  in  the  preceding  article,  we 
shall  feel  little  difficulty  in  confirming  the  testimony 
of  MSS.  by  the  nature  of  the  case;  and  accordingly 

M 


^- 


178 


TUE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


ii 


receiving  '  incendia'  as  the  true  reading,  may  discard 
as  cumbrous  trifles  the  proposals  of  '  stipendial  and 
'  irnpendia  instead.  Thus  the  younger  Africanus  is 
fixed  not  less  decisively  before  our  view  in  the  pre- 
sent passage  than  in  the  former. 

Since  the  metrical  irregularity,  which  confessedly 
mars  the  rhythm  of  the  verse — 'Non  incendia  Car- 
thaginis  impiaj' — remains  unaffected  by  any  proposed 
correction,  and  since  Meinecke's  ingenious  surmise, 
to  the  effect  that,  as  the  number  of  verses  in  mono- 
strophic  and  distrophic  odes  throughout  the  Four 
Books,  follows  the  multiple- of-four  law  of  the  tetra- 
strophic,  two  verses  are  probably  wanting  to  this  Ode 
of  34,  carries  no  warrant,  in  the  absence  of  any  lacuna 
in  MSS.,  that  such  verses  would,  if  supplied,  be  likely 
to  belong  to  this  particular  place,  we  shall  do  best  in 
receiving  the  materials  of  construction  as  they  lie  be- 
fore us,  and  in  concerning  ourselves  more  about  what 
is,  or  may  be,  than  about  what  might  possibly  have 
been,  but  certainly  is  not. 

The  diflSculties  complained  of  are  these:  That  the 
'  rejectee Hannibalis  mince'  cannot  refer  to  the  younger 
Scipio,  nor  the '  incendia  Carthaginis'  to  the  elder  (for 
the  suppositions  of  '  incendia'  being  figuratively  ap- 
plied either  to  *  slaughter^  or  to  the  '  burning  of  the 
ships  of  Carthage'  in  the  second  Punic  war,  is  almost 
too  puerile  to  be  recorded).  Again,  that  the  ^Calahrce 
Pierides'  or  lays  of  Ennius,  must  cause  the  allusion 
to  revert  to  the  elder  Scipio,  while  the  laws  of  gram- 
matical dependency  will  not  admit  of  the  reference 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


179 


being  carried  back  beyond  the  younger,  which  is  ab- 
surd. To  these  Orellius  adds  in  effect — '  The  theme 
of  Ennius  was  itself  these  very  "  celeres  fugce'  and 
''rejectee  mince;''  nulla  est  ergo  avrlBeai^^  quam  tamen 
manifeste  qucesivit  poetaJ 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  to 
confine  the  expression  '  Calabrce  Pierides'  to  Poems 
of  Ennius  from  the  circumstance  that  he  did  in  fact 
dilate  in  his  Annals  on  the  subject  of  the  second  Pu- 
nic war.  This  may  have  combined  with  other  con- 
siderations to  suggest  such  a  paraphrase  for  '  national 
Italian  poetry'  in  general :  but  nothing  further,  if  even 
so  much,  is  necessary  in  the  case.  Horace  is  himself 
called  *  Calaber'  by  Martial,  where  he  alludes  to  the 
mutual  non-interference  of  poets  with  the  provinces 
of  each  other — 

Sic  Maro  non  Calahri  tentavit  carmina  Flacci. 

Ep.  VIII.  18.  5. 

But,  allowing  the  phrase  to  apply  to  Ennius  par- 
ticularly, we  may  find  cause  to  believe  that  the  com- 
mentators have  been  over-exact  in  requiring  the 
apodosis  to  correspond  with  the  entire  jt^rofa^/^  :  that 
the  verse  ^  Non  incisa  notis  marmora publicis'  (which 
as  essentially  belongs  to  the  chain  as  the  nearer  links) 
leads  the  thoughts  back  indefinitely  far :  and  that  in 
such  a  series  it  is  natural  and  sufiicient  that  the  phrase 
of  the  apodosis  should  originate  in  the  latter  or  last 
association.  A  striking  instance  of  this  kind  of 
Zeugma  (see  page  101),  and  one  even  more  marked 
from  the  absolute  incongruity  of  the  verbal-notion 

M  2 


1^. 


180 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


181 


with  any  but  the  proximate  subject,  is  supplied  in  the 
famous  Ode  usually  entitled — 'Drusi  Laudes:' 

Qui  primus  [dies]  alma  risit  adorea, 
Dirus  per  urbes  Afer  ut  Italas, 
Ceu  Jlamma  per  tsedas,  vel  Eurus 
Per  Siculas  equitavit  undas. 

Carm.  IV.  IV.  41-4. 

Similarly  here,  it  is  evident  that  the  poetic  image 
in  the  words  '•clarlus  indicant'  is  directly  suggested  by 
the  last  nominative,  '  incendia,'  from  such  analogy  as 
*'  dant  clara  incendia  lucent' — -^n.  ii.  569;  while  by 
an  extension  of  metaphor  the  same  verbal-notion  may 
likewise  be  referred  to  *  marmord  as  subject,  with 
'honorum  ducum  laude^   supposed  as  object;  and  to 
'fugcB  rejecti£que  mince!  with  ^  Africani  Major  is  laudes' 
similarly  understood:  and  in  the  same  way,  'Calabrce 
Pierides',   originating  in  an  immediately  cognate  as- 
sociation, may  answer  in  the  apodosis  supplied  to  each 
of  these,  without  any  allowance  being  pleaded  for  it, 
beyond  the  principle  established  respecting  *  clarius 
indicant!     They  both  alike  express  associations  de- 
rived particularly,   and  either  applied  or  implied 
generally. 

The  diflSculty  suggested  by  the  eminent  Orellius 
(as  stated  in  the  preceding  page)  is  next  to  be  con- 
sidered. It  has  been  well  observed  by  him  that  in 
the  Hncisa  notis  marmora,'  Horace  had  probably  in 
view  the  statues  of  patriotic  celebrities,  which  Au- 
gustus was  then  setting  up  at  Rome.  And  this  refe- 
rence will  derive  corroboration  from  another  place — 


'si  qua3ret  pater  urbium  subscribi  statuis." — Carm. 
III.  XXIV.  27-8.  Now  when  we  consider  that,  in  the 
context  preceding,  Horace  exalts  the  conservative 
efficacy  of  Poetry  above  that  both  of  Sculpture  and 
Painting^  would  it  not  be  allowable  to  suppose  that  in 
the  'celeres  fugae,  Reject^eque  retrorsum  Hannibalis 
minae,'  as  also  in  the  '  incendia  Carthaginis,'  some 
well-known  pictures  of  the  stirring  incidents  of  the 
Punic  wars  may  be  the  subject  of  allusion?  The  fa- 
miliarity of  such  associations  to  the  Italian  mind  is 
well  instanced  in  Wagner^s  remark  upon  the  picture 
of  the  Trojan  wars  which  -^neas  is  represented  as 
having  seen  at  Carthage — '  poeta  morem  Italian  suae 
sequitur,  in  qua  passim  visebantur  porticus  templo- 
rum  pictce!  The  multitude  of  grouped  figures  inci- 
dental to  such  scenes  would  well  exhibit  a  chief 
power  ofpainting^  as  contrasted  with  the  solitary  im- 
pressiveness  of  the  'animated  bust;'  and  the  ^avTuBeai^^ 
required  would  be  fully  supplied,  in  the  assertion  of 
the  Muses'  supremacy  above  the  highest  claims  of  the 
kindred  Arts. 

In  fine,  two  objects  are  aimed  at  in  this  article. 
1st,  To  account  for  certain  phraseology.  2nd,  To 
argue  from  the  principle  of  that  account  to  a  more 
general  bearing  of  the  context.  If  this  has  been  satis- 
factorily done,  the  difficulties  that  have  been  urged 
by  the  commentators  must  appear  to  be  fetters  which 
they  have  forged  for  tlie  author  and  themselves. 

As  for  the  metrical  exception,  the  license  of  proper 
names  has  been  pleaded  by  competent  apologists  with 
quite  sufficient  force  for  the  occasion. 


?  Am  I 


182 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


183 


Cras  ingens  iterabimus  ^quor. 

Carm.  I.  VII.  32. 

The  verbal-notion  here  is  stronger  than  *  traverse 
again.'  It  is  borrowed  from  agricultural  labour,  as 
the  noun  also  is;  and  both  present  us  with  an  image 
of  the  sea,  instead  of  the  land,  as  afield  of  enterprise. 
Itero  being  iterum-aro,  this  dash  of  encouragement  to 
the  followers  of  Teucer's  second  tour  of  adventure 
should  be  boldly  given — *  To-morrow  we  shall  (but) 
enter  on  a  second-ploughing  of  the  vast  ocean-sur- 
face.' 


.       .      .       DUM  LOQUIMUR,  FUGERIT  INVIDA 
^TAS. 

Carm.  I.  XI.  7-8. 

The  above  elegant  example  of  minimum  in  the  range 
of  the  future-perfect  tense  admirably  sketches  both 
the  rapidity  of  the  transition  described,  and  the  im- 
mediateness  of  the  moral  conviction  impressed.  It 
may  be  interesting  to  the  student  unacquainted  with 
the  Hebrew  tongue  to  be  informed,  that  the  same 
sentiment  which  the  poet-philosopher  here  so  simply 
and  briefly  expresses,  is  the  fundamental  principle 
upon  which  the  general  verb-system  of  that  sublime 
language  is  based.  With  a  bold  and  severe  exact- 
ness, the  Hebrew  language  wholly  ignores  the  notion 
of  present  time  in  the  personal  departments  of  any 
verb,  and  assigns  the  third  person  singular  of  the 
preterite  as  the  root.  The  principle,  as  regards  tense, 
is  obviously  this — that  befcrre  the  thought  can  he 


fixed  upon  a  passing  i?istant,  that  instant  has  fled. 

The  third  person  is  probably  preferred  to  the  others, 
because  we  first  obtain  the  notion  of  active  and 
passive  power,  and  of  states  of  being,  by  observing 
external  agencies  and  conditions,  before  we  either 
think  oi  addressing  ourselves,  even  by  gesture,  to  any 
agent  as  such,  or  of  reflectively  referring  the  observed 
power  of  agency,  susceptibility,  or  even  of  existence, 
to  ourselves.     In  the  Hebrew  future  (as  it  appears 
in  the  most  ancient  grammatical  forms,  although 
modern  usage  pleases  rather  to  assimilate  its  form 
to  that  of  the  preterite),  the  rule  is  reversed;  and  we 
there  have  the  persons  arranged  in  the  order  gene- 
rally familiar  in  other  languages ;  probably  because 
the  notion  of  future  is  strictly  conceptive,  agreeably 
to  what  we  have  laid  down  in  page  170;  and  such 
conception  is  originally  observed  as  his  own  by  the 
person  who  forms  it,  and  is  then  transferred  first  to 
the  nearer  person.     If  this  be  so,  it  would  afibrd  a 
strong  corroboration  of  the  theory  by  which  it  has 
been  proposed,  in  page  171,  to  regard  the  subjunctive- 
future  when  it  signifies  indicatively  as  the  purest  form 
of  future  expression  known  to  classical  language. 


Fertur  Prometheus     .     .     . 

insani leonis 
Vim  stomacho  adposuisse  nostro. 

Carm  I.  xvi.  13,  15-6. 

It  is  idly  disputed  here  whether  stomachus  means 
corjecur,  or  pectus;  for  '  adposuisse  imjAies  *  addition 


u 


184 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


185 


to'  in  a  way  not  intelligible  in  any  of  these  associations. 
Let  us  rather  take  it,  as  in  the  only  other  instance 
of  the  lyrical  use  of  the  word  by  Horace — "  gravem 
Peleidae  stomachum''  Carm.  I.  vi.  5-6 — as  a  meta- 
phorical expression  for  '' passionate  pride!'  The  no- 
tions, 'vis  leonis  fastui  hominis  animoso  adposita',  if 
they  may  not  constitute  a  mixed  mode,  at  least  may 
exist  together  in  such  without  incoherence. 


Te  semper  anteit  s^va  Necessitas, 
Clavos  trabales  et  cuneos  manu 
Gestans  ahena  ;  nec  severus 
Uncus  abest,  liquidumque  plumbum. 

Carm.  I.  xxxv.  17-20. 

Si  figit  adamantinos 

Summis  verticibus  dira  Necessitas 
Clavos,  non  animum  metu 
non  mortis  laqueis  expedies  caput. 

Carm.  III.  xxiv.  5-8. 
The  former  of  these  passages  the  reader  will  recog- 
nise as  belonging  to  the  noble  Ode  to  Fortune,  com- 
mencing,—" 0  Diva!  gratum  qu^  regis  Antium" : 

the  latter  is  not  addressed  to  any  particular  person 
real  or  supposed.  Tliey  are  evidently  suitable  to 
purposes  of  mutual  illustration:  and  the  manner  in 
which  tlie  commentators  have  dealt  with  both  ren- 
ders it  necessary  to  combine  influences  tending  in 
that  direction. 

All  commentators  (with  the  exception  of  Cru- 
quius,  whose  reference  here  to '  instruments  of  torture^ 


however,  appears  to  be  justly  faulted)  suppose  the  ap- 
pliances of  personified  Necessity,  as  assigned  above — 
'spikes' — *  wedges' — 'clamps' — and  'molten  lead' — to 
be  representative  of  constructiveness.  That  is,  the  god- 
dess Fortune,  whosejickleness  is  a  universal  theme,  is 
waited  upon  by  another  allegorical  personage  bearing 
emblems  of  stability  and  firmness,  although  herself 
invariably  sung  of  by  poets,  and  particularly  by  Ho- 
race, as  a  destroyer:  that  other  who  thus  ministers 
to  the  whims  oi  Fortune  is  the  goddess  of  Fate  or 
Destiny , to  -whose  decrees  ancient  mythology  teaches 
us  that  Jove  himself  was  subject.  And  all  this  is  re- 
conciled on  the  ground  that,  although  Fortune  is  in- 
constant, her  decrees  are  irresistible,  and  hence  the 
building  apparatus  which  Fate  keeps  at  her  disposal ! 
Who  has  not  heard  of  '  the  poetry  of  architecture'? 
Who  has  not  sympathized  with  the  romantic  influ- 
ences ascribed  to  '  Fate's  decree'?  Surely,  should 
poetry  ever  unhappily  bid  a  final  adieu  to  earth,  as 
Astrasa  is  fabled  to  have  done,  she  will  fix  her  last 
lingering  glance  upon  that  impressive  group  of  fi- 
gures, reading  them  as  the  commentators  have  read! 

But  seriously,  let  us  inquire  whether  this  is  likely 
to  be  the  imagery  which  Horace  intended  to  picture; 
or  whether  the  very  reverse  be  the  truth,  and  that  in- 
struments o/ demolition  are  really  here  represented. 

And  first,  on  what  authority  have  the  commenta- 
tors assumed  'trabalis'  to  mean  '  of  or  belonging  to 
beams'  and  so,  'uniting  beams?  The  following  in- 
clude instances  of  every  association  in  which  it  is 
stated  to  occur  in  the  Latin  language;  and  in  all  it 


186 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


is  taken  as  a  term  of  hyperbole,  to  signify  ^as  large  as 
a  heamJ  Virgil  uses  it  as  an  epithet  of  his  hero's  spear ^ 
— "  teloque  orantem  miilta  trahali  .  .  ferit."  —  xii. 
294-5.  In  Claudian's  'Rapta  Proserpina'  we  find  it 
applied  to  a  sceptre^ — *'  indignatusque  trahali  Saxa 
ierii  sceptro^^ — ii.  172-3;  and  it  is  again  employed  by 
him  in  describing  the.  piston  of  the  Hydraulicon,  or 
organ  played  by  the  agency  of  water,  which  is  still 
used  in  some  of  the  rural  districts  of  Italy,  thus — 
^''trahali  Yecte  laborantes  in  carmina  concitet  undas," 
— XVII.  317-18;  while  in  the  Argonautics  it  implies 
huge  weapons  in  general — *'  Jamque  alii  clypeos  et 
tela  trabalia  dextris  Expediunt." — Val.  Flag.  viii. 
301-2.  Cicero  connects  it  with  the  noun  itself  given 
in  our  text,  and  manifestly  in  the  same  sense  as  the 
other  authors — "  Ut  beneficium  trahali  clavo  figerit." 
— Verr.  v.  52.  Now,  what  would  be  the  natural 
meaning  of  a  *  heam-sized  spike'  in  connexion  with 
demolition  ?  Obviously  that  of  a  prizing-lever,  or 
what  we  call  a  crow-har. 

Next  as  to  '  cuneus!  No  one  will  deny  that,  how- 
ever numerous  may  be  the  metaphorical  meanings  of 
*  a  wedge'  in  classical  language,  it  is  a  fit  and  proper 
emblem  oi division;  that  as  a  mechanical  instrument 
its  purpose  is  well  described  by  Virgil — "  Quadrifi- 
dam  quercum  cuneis  ut  forte  coactis  Scindebat," — 
jEn.  VII.  509—10;  and  that  it  is  by  its  separating  force 
alone  that  it  could  even  be  a  mean  of  consolidation. 
And  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  cunei  is  em- 
ployed by  the  great  architectural  authority,  Vitru- 
vius,  in  relation  to  construction^  as  coloured  inlaid 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


187 


pieces  of  substance,  for  the  purpose  of  ^smoothing'  a 
surface  (like  our  mosaic)  or  pictorial  imitations  of 
such;  but  never  as  tighteners  or  fasteners. — vii.  4, 5. 
The  term  '  uncus'  is  never  used  to  signify  anything 
like  what  we  call  a  clamp  or  hold-fast;  nor  does  it 
even  approach  nearer  to  such  import  than  when  it  is 
applied  to  the  anchor  of  a  ship.  It  is,  however,  fre- 
quently connected  with  violence  hy  dragging^  as  of 
criminals  hauled  to  execution ;  and  in  one  place  very 
remarkably,  and  very  forcibly  for  our  purpose,  of  a 
statue  in  the  condition  of  being  torn  from  its  pedestal 
by  popular  fury  and  dragged  through  the  mire.  "  Se- 
janus  ducitur  unco"— J\JY.  x.  66.  And  this  brings 
us  to  a  point  which  the  commentators  have  passed 
in  silence,  namely,  the  introduction  of  *  laquei'  in  the 
second  passage.  Not  imagining  that  it  bears  any  re- 
lation to  the  previously  mentioned  '  clavos,'  they  treat 
it  as  an  independent  metaphor,  in  disregard  of  the 
incongruity  thus  produced  between  protasis  and 
apodosis — ^Si  figit  verticibus  clavos  necessitas,  non 
laqueis  expedies  caput.'  Where  is  the  sequence,  real 
or  figurative?  Truly,  '-mixed  metaphor'  is  strongly 
in  requisition. 

But  a  paraphase,  by  Scheller,  of  a  passage  in  Pro- 
pertius,  throws  much  hght  here — "Cum  fixum  men  to 
decusseris  uncum^' — iv.  1,  141,  '  i.  e.'  says  Scheller, 
'  cum  uno  te  laqueo  extricaveris.'  Again  in  Juvenal, 
—  "  descendunt  statuse,  restemque  sequuntur," — x. 
58.  So  here  if  we  understand  the  '  clavos  adaman- 
tinos'  to  be  either  levers  of  destruction  applied  to,  or 


188 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


huge  spikes  for  the  attachment  of  ropes  fixed  in,  the 
summits  of  lofty  constructions  of  any  kind,  when  they 
are  about  to  be  precipitated,  we  shall  have  a  plain  cor- 
respondence between  the  members  of  the  second  sen- 
tence. It  is  superfluous  to  remark  that  the  emblem 
*  molten  lead'  is  as  fitted  to  signify  '  lead  dislodged  hy 
fire'  or  '  old  lead  heing  re-cast  for  new  uses,'  as  to 
imply  lead  employed  in  original  construction. 

On  the  whole  the  moral  suggestions  intended  by 
the  allegorical  representations  seem  to  be  the  fol- 
lowing:— No  structure  was  ever  raised  by  man,  which 
must  not,  at  some  time^  decay  or  be  pulled  down. 
Fortune  may  build;  but  Fate  shall  assuredly  level. 
{Fate  meaning  the  inevitable  doom  of  all  earthly 
things.)  Hence  'Necessity'  does  not  wait  upon,  but 
takes  precedence  of  Fortune^  bearing  her  own  instru- 
ments of  irresistible  destroying  force,  while  a  gentler 
and  more  cheering  group  \Spes  and  Fides)  are  the 
immediate  companions  of  the  other,  in  order  that  men 
may  have  comfort,  under  adverse  dispensations,  from 
Hope  within  their  own  breasts,  and  Faithfulness  on 
the  part  of  friends.  *  Necessity'  sure  to  execute  all 
her  own  purposes  sooner  or  later,  merely  takes  them 
in  detail  as  Fortune  frowns  on  any  object;  and  hence 
is  attributed  to  Fortune  herself  the  effect  of  such  dis- 
pleasure; while  she  is,  after  all,  but  a  secondary  and 
temporary  influence: 

Nullum  numen  habes,  si  sit  prudentia;  nos  te, 
Nos  facimus,  Fortuna,  deam,  cceloque  locamus. 

Juv.  X.  365-6. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


189 


The  commentators  have,  no  doubt  rightly,  sup- 
posed the  picture  to  be  taken  from  some  well-known 
piece  of  statuary.  It  was  not  in  our  poet's  power, 
even  in  compliment  to  a  Csesar,  in  whose  behalf  the 
prayer  of  the  Ode  is  written,  to  alter  the  established 
allegorical  representation;  and  the  language  is  ac- 
cordingly that  oi  submissive  propitiation  of  a  dreaded 
divinity.  Finally,  some  expressions  occur  in  the  im- 
mediately preceding  context  which  are  strongly  re- 
commended to  the  reader's  attention,  as  confirmatory 
of  the  view  here  offered: 

Te  Dacus  asper,  te  profugi  Scythae, 
Urbesquc  gentesque,  et  Latium  ferox, 
Regumque  matres  barbarorum,  et 
Purpurei  metuunt  tyranni, 

Injurioso  ne  pede  proruas 

Stantem  columnam;  neu  populus  frequens 

Ad  arma  cessantes,  ad  arma 

Concitet,  imperiumque  frangat, 

XXXV.  9-16. 


Fertur  pudic^  conjugis  osculum 
Farvosque  natos,  ut  capitis  minor, 
Ab  se  removisse,  et  virilem 
torvus  humi  posuisse  vultum. 

Carm.  III.  V.  41-4. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  least  shade  of  indis- 
tinctness should  rest  upon  any  point  of  the  brilliant 


190 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


picture  presented  in  this  magnificent  ode,  of  the  self- 
sacrifice  of  the  patriot-hero  Regulus.  Yet  the  com- 
mentators leave  us  wholly  uninformed  of  the  precise 
verbal  analysis  of  the  peculiar  and  prominent  phrase, 
'  CAPITIS  MINOR;'  and  contenting  themselves  with  re- 
ferring us  to  a  forensic  technicality  occurring  in  the 
practice  of  Roman  jurisprudence,  called  ^  Capitis  De- 
minutioj  or  forfeiture  of  civil  status,  they  dismiss  us 
to  connect  the  given  expression  with  it  as  best  we 
may.  *But  capitis  deminutid  was  of  various  degrees; 
and  one  of  these — the  ^  deminutio  minima^ — implied 
no  further  alienation  of  personal  rights  than  such  as 
would  arise,  suppose,  from  adoption  or  coverture; 
whence  the  general  phrase  '  capitis  minor,'  even  if 
an  evident  similarity  of  derivation  implied  a  neces- 
sary relationship  between  the  expressions,  would  be 
far  too  vague  to  convey  that  abandon  (to  borrow  a 
French  term)  of  humiliated  yet  obstinate  pride 
which  represents  the  martyr  to  the  cause  of  honour 
and  truth  as  proclaiming  himself  unworthy  of  re- 
ceiving a  parting  embrace  from  wife  and  children, 
or  of  elevating  his  manly  brow  amongst  his  fellows. 

It  is  here  proposed  to  refer  the  expression  to  an 
entirely  different  origin,  and  one  which  will  reach 
the  root  of  the  idiom  itself 

The  classis  called  '  capite  censi'  did  not  include 
the  Servi.  Although  the  lowest,  it  was  still  a  class  of 
Gives.  Hence  the  words  '  capite  censis  minor ,  or, 
as  the  classical  expression  would  be  likely  to  run, 
''capitis  censu  minor  would  form  a  natural  paraphrase 


detached  passages  of  the  lyrics. 


191 


for  servus :  while  the  transition  to  the  elliptical  form 
*  capitis-minor  would  be  simply  due  to  conventional 
compendium  sermonis;  and  the  application  here  would 
imply  that  Regulus  now  regarded  himself  as  *  one 
lower  than  the  lowest  0/ citizens.'  If  this  account  be 
admissible,  it  were  superfluous  to  impress  the  con- 
venience of  adopting  it. 


NoN  Hydra  secto  corpore  firmior 
Vinci  dolentem  crevit  in  Herculem: 
monstrumve  submisere  colchi 
Ma  J  US,  EcHiONi^vE  Theb-^. 

Carm.  IV.  IV.  61-4. 

All  the  authorities,  whether  in  the  department  of 
lexicography,  geography,  or  criticism,  agree  in  as- 
signing toCoLCHi  the  sole  meaning  of — ^Inhabitants 
of  Colchis'  But,  waiving  the  incongruity  of  placing 
^ColchV  in  this  sense  in  juxta-position  with  'Thebce,' 
may  we  not  ask — With  what  possible  regard  to 
poetic  or  other  propriety  could  the  ^  inhabitants'  of 
a  district  be  said  '  submittere  {ava'ne^'KeLv)  mons- 
trum;'  and  especially  in  the  present  case,  where,  in 
both  instances  alike,  the  earth  is  fabled  to  have  yielded 
the  formidable  growth  ?  Now,  besides  several  pas- 
sa^res  in  the  Argonautics,  in  which  Colchi  and  its  in- 
flexions would  appear  to  require  to  be  understood, 
consistently  with  good  taste,  as  a  designation  of  the 
country^  not  of  the  inhabitants  (though  it  might  be 
difficult  actually  to  prove  this)— two  very  plain  in- 


192 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  LYRICS. 


193 


Stances  in  point  are  available  in  Ovid's  delineation 
of  Medea's  remorseful  address  to  Jason, — 

Jussus  inexpertam  Colchos  advertere  pupplm, 
Intrasti  patriae  regna  beata  meae. 

Heroid.  XII.  23-4. 
Laese  pater,  gaude :  Colchi  gaudete  relicti ; 
Inferias  umbrae  fratris  habete  mei ! 

Ib.  159-60. 

This  latter  case  is  perfectly  demonstrative;  for  the 
reception  of  infer  ice  was  attributed  to  departed  spirits 
and  to  the  Earthy  but  not  to  living  persons  in  any  sense. 
Hence,  Colchi  will  correspond  in  form  with  Bruttii, 
Locri,  &c. 


Dive,  quem  proles  Niobcea  magn^ 

ViNDICEM  lingua,  TiTYOSQUE  RAPTOR 

Sensit, 

Carm.  IV.  VI.  1-3. 

That  the  exact  measure  of  Niobe's  offence  differed 

somewhat  in  the  primitive  legend  from  that  given  by 

amplifiers  of  fable,  such  as  Ovid,  whom  modern  my- 

thologists  follow,  will  appear  from  a  passagein  the 

Homeric  writings  which  is  usually  mistranslated : 

• 

OvveK  apa  Aryroi  [Nio^rj]  IffdcKero  KaWiTrapyw. 

4>^  doiw  TSKeetv^  ^  h^avri]  yeivaro  ttoWovS' 

Tw  d  apa^  Kal  hoiw  irep  c6i/t',  ciTro  Trai/ras  oXeaaav. 

II.  xxiv.  607-9. 

Here  the  latter  member  of  the  penultimate  verse 

should  be  taken  as  explanatory  of  the  point  of  the 


taunt  insinuated  in  the  former ;  and  not  as  Ovid 
seems  to  have  understood  the  passage  (if  we  may 
infer  that  he  had  it  in  view  in  the  following  coun- 
terpart of  the  usual  translation  given),  namely,  as  a 
portion  of  the  expression  of  Niobe, 

Ilia  duobus 
Facta  parens ;  uteri  pars  est  liaec  septiraa  nostri. 

Met.  VI.  III.  191-2. 

The  original  version  of  the  legend,  interpreted  as  here 
recommended,  represents  the  dignity  of  the  offended 
deities  as  greater,  and  the  effrontery  of  the  culprit  as 
less,  than  the  common  acceptation,  and  so  enhances 
the  delicacy  of  the  moral  and  the  force  of  the  reli- 
gious impression. 


Est  mihi  nonum  superantis  annum 

PlENUS  AlBANI  CADDS;      .      .      . 

Carm.  IV.  xi.  1-2. 

Although,  from  the  length  to  which  these  pages 
have  already  run,  the  conviction  is  pressing  that  an 
examination  of  the  Art  of  Poetry  will  not  be  com- 
patible with  the  compass  of  the  present  work,  while 
an  imperfect  notice  would  be  worse  than  none,  yet 
the  preceding  clause  furnishes  so  easy  an  illustration 
of  one  cardinal  sentence  in  that  standard  critique, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  dismiss  the  subject  of  the  Lyrics 
without  alluding  to  it.     The  passage  is  as  follows : 

SI  QUID  TAMEN  OLIM 
SCRIPSERIS  IN  MjECI  DESCENDAT  JUDICIS  AURES, 

Et  patris,  et  nostras  ;  nonumque  prematur  in  annum, 

Membranis  intus  positis. 

Ar.  Poet.  386-9. 

N 


194 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAAflNED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES.        195 


Because  it  happens  that  the  luckless  Helvius  Cin- 
na  (lid  in  fact  hold  back  a  'poem  for  nine  years  before 
publication,  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  allusion  is 
to  him  (a  supposition  which  Weichert  gravely  un- 
dertakes to  prove  uncertain),  while  the  allusion  of 
'  nonum  in  annum  is,  in  any  view,  taken  as  a  large  nu- 
merical expression  of  time;  as  if  time  in  itself  could 
produce  any  beneficial  effect  on  writings;  or  as  if  the 
disadvantages  of  delay  might  not  in  many  cases  equal 
or  exceed  those  of  haste. 

But  nothing  more  seems  intended  by  the  poet 
than  figuratively  to  recommend  that  a  poem  should 
be  mellowed  by  reflection,  just  as  wine  is  improved  hy 
time.  It  happens  that  time  is  generally  essential  to  the 
completion  of  criticism;  but  such  a  term  must  repre- 
sent an  indefinitely  varying  quantity,  for  one  man  will 
mentally  mature  more  in  a  few  hours  than  another 
could  accomplish  with  equal  diligence  in  any  number 
of  years.  Hence  the  expression  is  to  be  taken  as 
purely  figurative  here.  This  is  borne  out  by  the  cor- 
respondence of  a  parallel  phrase  *  positis  intus  Chii 
veterisque  Falerni  mille  cadis,'  with  *  memhranis  intus 
positis :  but  in  the  case  of  writings,  a  detention  for  pur- 
poses of  scrutiny,  and  not  a  putting  out  of  view,  must 
be  intended,  though  the  figure  be  borrowed  as  before. 

It  is  evident  that  the  text  implies  wine  exceeding 
average  quality  in  point  of  age;  and  hence  it  is  likely 
that  the  ninth  year  was  a  standard  in  such  case:  and 
so  would  be  representative  of  perfection  secured  by 
a  maturing  process. 


Epistolary  writing,  so  far  as  it  is  a  communication 
between  familiar  parties,  is  a  species  of  composition 
likely  to  be  imperfectly  understood  by  indifferent 
persons,  almost  in  proportion  as  the  allusions  imply 
an  easy  conception  on  the  part  of  those  concerned. 
Indeed  many  expressions  found  in  such  often  appear 
even  highly  ridiculous  when  published,  which  may 
yet  have  been  sufficiently  suitable  to  any  purpose 
for  which  they  could  have  been  originally  intended. 
Where,  on  the  other  hand,  the  epistolary  style  is 
adopted,  merely  in  imitation  of  the  former  use,  for 
the  familiar  conveyance  of  general  sentiments,  it 
may  be  expected  to  display  much  of  the  inartificial 
freedom  of  social  converse,  with  as  little  introduction 
as  possible  of  particulars  not  intelligible  to,  or  appre- 
ciable by  many.  The  utility  and  beauty  which  this 
latter  mode  of  giving  free  expression  to  reflection  is 
fitted  to  exhibit  are  considerable,  though  somewhat 
compromised  by  the  modern  editorial  fiction  of  ad- 
dressing, as  *  Letters'  to  public  bodies  or  individuals, 
compositions  which  are  really  written  speeches,  ad- 
vertisements, or  notices. 

The  Epistles  of  Horace  include  elegant  specimens 
of  both  the  legitimate  classes  above  adverted  to.  Be- 
neath the  smooth  surface  of  the  former  there  lies,  no 
doubt,  a  large  amount  of  allusion,  which  was  strictly 
relevant  to  circumstances  of  the  passing  hour  and  of 
private  associations,  but  which  is  now  for  ever  lost: 

n2 


\\i 


196 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


while  the  simplicity  of  style  equally  natural  to  the 
latter  would  contribute  as  much  on  the  other  hand 
to  dispense  with  the  services  of  modern  criticism  in 
this  department. 

A  few  steps  therefore  will  conduct  the  reader  be- 
yond the  confines  of  this  field  of  investigation. 


Si  fortunatum  species  et  gratia  pr^stat, 

MeRCEMUR  SERVUM,  qui  DICTET  NOMINA,  LJEVUM 

Qui  fodicet  latus,  et  cogat  trans  pondera  dextram 
porrigere. 

Epis.  I.  VI.  49-52. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  all  the  manifold  attempts 
made  to  account  for  the  expression  ^  trans  pondera 
poirigere^' whether  passable,  laughable,  or  deplorable, 
take  trans  in  the  same  one  (and  that  not  the  original) 
of  its  two  significations.  Now,  instead  of  supposing 
it  to  mean  '  across^  in  connexion  with  motion^  let  us 
try  whether  'heyondl  or  *  on  the  other  side  of,'  in  posi- 
tion, may  not  conduce  to  a  more  intelligible,  or,  at 
all  events,  a  less  frivolous  interpretation  than  many 
of  those  resting  on  the  other  ground.  In  this  view 
the  language  is  strongly  suggestive  of  operations  in 
machinery,  by  which  weights  applied  at  one  of  two 
sides  produce  motion  at  the  other,  as,  suppose,  of  an 
index  traversing  proportional  spaces. 

The  nomenclator  'Icevum fodicat  latus'  (the  verbal- 
notion  being  perhaps  borrowed  from  the  indenting  of 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES.         197 

notches  to  sustain  forces),  and  proceeds  to  apply  his 
'pondera'  (a  term  often  used  metaphorically,  as  in 
'  nugis  Q.Mei[:epondus\  &c.),  in  the  suggestions,  '  Hie 
multum  in  Fabia  valet,' — *  Cuilibet  hie  fasces  dabit,' 
&c.  &c.,  and  so  '  cogit  dextram  porrigere'  at  the  side 
remote  from  the  application  of  the  motive  power. 

Thus  the  electioneering  aspirant  is  represented  as 
a  sort  of  automaton — '  ducitur  ut  nervis  alienis  mo- 
bile lignuin;  and  the  phrase  may  be  taken  as  a  true 
proverbial  expression  introduced  in  progressu  sen- 
tentice  without  any  formal  intimation  of  its  real  cha- 
racter; as  in—"  At  nos  virtutes  ipsas  invertimus, 
2X(\\xe  Sincerum  cupimusvas  incrustarer—^^^.  I.  ni. 

55-6,  &c.  &c. 


*  Quid  volui?'  dices,  ubi  quid  te  l^serit.    Et  scis 
In  breve  te  cogi  plenus  quum  languet  amator. 
Quod  si  non  odio  peccantis  desipit  augur, 
Charus  eris  Rom^  donec  te  deseret  ^tas  ; 

Epis.  I.  xx.  7-10. 

A  MISTAKE  as  great  as  it  must  appear,  on  a  little  re- 
flection, to  be  evident,  is  common  to  all  comments 
on  and  versions  of  the  sentence — *  Et  scis  in  breve  te 
cogi  plenus  quum  languet  amator ;  for  although  so 
plainly  expressed  in  present  time,  it  is  constantly 
rendered  as  part  and  parcel  of  the  prospect  which 
the  author  foreshadows  in  this  fanciful  address  to  his 
Book.  Yet  throughout  the  entire  epistle  not  only 
is  the  future  in  events  appropriately  described  by 


I 


198 


THE  WOBKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


the  future  in  time,  but  these  are  supposed  to  be  re- 
vealed to  a  party  ignorant  of  consequences;  whereas 
here  we  have  the  knowledge  of  that  party  appealed 
to  in  present  time,  which  must  therefore  infer  expe- 
rience in  some  way  however  imaginary. 

The  solution  is  simply  this.  By  'plenus  amator' 
Horace  means  himself';  just  as  immediately  after- 
wards he  refers  to  himself  in  the  third  person — *  ride- 
bit  monitor  non  exauditus;'  and  the  argument  is — *  if 
such  be  your  present  treatment  occasionally  at  the 
hand  of  your  original  and  most  interested  ''amator,^ 
what  must  you  expect  from  the  caprice  of  strangers?' 


Cum  tot  sustineas  et  tanta  negotia  solus, 
Res  Italas  armis  tuteris,  moribus  ornes, 
Legibus  emendes,  in  publica  commoda  peccem, 
Si  longo  sermone  morer  tua  tempora,  Caesar. 

Epist.  II.  I.  1-4. 

If  the  correct  interpretation  of  this  highly-wrought 
passage,  which  forms  the  inaugural  prelude  to  the 
most  elaborate  criticism  upon  the  rise  and  progress 
of  Roman  poetry  from  Saturnian  infancy  to  Augustan 
maturity  bequeathed  to  us  by  Roman  genius,  shall 
appear  to  have  hitherto  escaped  the  observation  of  the 
shrewdest  critics,  the  reflective  reader  will  not  fail  to 
attribute  such  oversight  to  its  real  cause,  viz. — that 
the  gracefulness  of  the  preface  has  been  absorbed  in 
the  brilliancy  of  the  sequel, — that  the  substance  of 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES.  199 

the  treatise  itself  (to  use  a  free  adaptation  of  its  own 
words)  '  uritfulgore  suo  .  ,  ,  artes  (in  this  instance, 
artes  exordium  ornate  concinnandi)  infra  se  positas' 
In  the  following  endeavour  to  show  that  such  inad- 
vertence has  indeed  occurred  here,  simplicity  both 
of  process  and  result  is  relied  upon  to  shield  the 
effort  from  the  supposition  of  assuming  to  accom- 
plish '  some  great  thing'  in  particulars  where  larger 
publications  have  been  naturally  conversant  rather 
with  generals.    The  assertion,  however,  that  so  many 
eminent  men,  belonging  to  so  many  different  ages  and 
countries,  should  aZZ  have  sanctioned  an  inadmissible 
idiom,  and  most  of  them  incongruity  of  tense,  in  the 
exposition  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  passages  in 
the  works  of  a  notable  classic  author,  must,  at  first 
hearing  appear  adventurous.    In  any  view  it  is  likely 
to  create  a  presumption  against  its  truth  which  no 
mere  preamble  can  modify;  and,  therefore,  in  this  as 
in  other  instances,  the  alternative  of  the  great  histo- 
rian of  Patavium,  in  recording  the  substance  of  the 
Decemvir's  apparently  impossible  decree,  alone  re- 
mains— '  id,  quod  constat,  nudum  videtur  proponen- 

dum.' 

In  the  first  place,  then,  the  expression  '  morer  tem- 
pora' has  been  invariably  received  as  conveying  the 
notion  of  '  delaying  timeJ  But  it  appears  to  be  a  pro- 
position capable  of  demonstration,  that  pure  Latinity 
knows  no  such  idiom ;  and  that  the  words  of  the  text 
must  have  impressed  another  and  a  less  feeble  apo- 
logetic sentiment  upon  the  attention  of  the  imperial 


200 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES.         201 


in 


personage  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  We  must 
not  here  be  misled  by  the  familiarity  of  such  phrase 
in  our  own,  or  in  any  other  language;  nor  by  its  con- 
ventional application  at  present  in  association  simi- 
lar to  that  in  the  instance  under  consideration.  The 
question  is,  did  the  Latin  tongue  in  fact  recognise  the 
idiom  'tempus  morarV  in  the  preceding  sense  ?  And 
if  it  did  not,  it  follows  that  the  plural  form  Hempora! 
will  still  less  admit  of  such  construction;  for  it  will 
not  be  supposed  by  any  scholar  whom  this  discussion 
concerns,  that  the  author  employed  it  merely  to  sub- 
serve metrical  purposes.  The  general  difficulty  of 
proving  a  negative  proposition  is  much  reduced  here, 
as  elsewhere,  by  the  research  of  able  phraseologists 
before  referred  to,  whose  inductive  authority  is  the 
highest  available  standard  of  propriety  in  the  case; 
and  whose  works  (especially  that  of  Scheller)  ex- 
hibit such  depth  and  extent  of  varied  learning,  as  to 
justify  the  confident  assumption  that  any  phrase  or 
idiom  not  recognised  in  these  repertories  cannot  be 
found  in  the  whole  range  of  Latin  literature. 

From  these  accredited  records,  then,  two  conclu- 
sions are  derivable.  First,  that  the  phrase  in  ques- 
tion is  nowhere  quoted  or  alluded  to  among  cognate 
phrases.  Secondly,  that  it  is  inconsistent  in  its  na- 
ture with  other  established  and  undoubted  classical 
phrases  which  are  so  quoted.  The  validity  of  the 
former  can  only  be  ascertained  by  the  industry  of  the 
reader,  who  will  find  abundant  instances  of  tenipus 
perdere,  amitterej  terere,  &c.  &c. ;  but  not  one  of  tern- 


pus  morari.  The  latter,  also,  must,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, require  that  readers  shall  follow  in  the  mea- 
sured steps  of  investigation  which  writers  have 
smoothed  before :  but  the  inquiry  may  be  assisted  by 
some  collateral  considerations,  in  the  way  of  strength- 
ening a  possibly  incomplete  induction. 

In  each  and  all  of  the  figurative  applications  of  the 
verb  moror  adduced  by  the  before-mentioned  autho- 
rities, the  primary  and  original  idea  of  actual  detention 
or  stoppage  is  present  and  paramount,  however  bold 
may  be  the  figure  presented  to  the  imagination.  To 
instance  this  in  extreme  cases: — In  the  well-known 
ode  where  Horace,  with  a  conception  worthy  of  the 
noble  Olympic  lay  of  Pindar,  which  he  follows  as  a 
model,  describes  the  magic  spell  of  the  Orphean 
lyre,  a  strong  example  occurs: 

Arte  materna  rapidos  morantem 
Fluminum  lapsus,  celeresque  ventos. 

Carm.  I.  XII.  9-10. 

As  also  where,  with  poetic  fervour,  he  extends  such 
mystic  influence  to  the  lyre  in  general:  "Tu  potes  .  . 
rivos  celeres  morari'' — Carm.  III.  xi.  13-4.  Again, 
that  secondary  use  of  moror  which  is  farthest  re- 
moved from  the  primary,  appears  to  occur  in  such 
phrases  as  "•  vina  nihil  moror!' — Hor.  *'  Nil  moror 
officium." — Id.  "  Nee  dona  moror." — Vikg.,  &c.  &c. 
Yet  even  here  it  is  evident  that  it  is  only  in  virtue  of 
the  idea  of  detaining,  stopping  to  question,  estimate,  or 
^^amm^ (probably  borrowed  metaphorically from^er- 
sons  in  the  first  instance),  that  the  word  is  significant. 


202 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


But  strictly,  the  idea  of  stopping  or  detaining  a  passing 
volume  of  air  or  water  involves  in  itself  no  impossi- 
bility: the  poetic  marvel  lay  in  the  agency  employed: 
while  to  construct  moror,  in  the  sense  here  maintained 
to  be  proper,  with  tempus  in  the  sense  which  the 
commentators  assign  to  it  (for  they  treat  tempora  as 
tempus)  would  express,  an  impossibility  which  would 
be  properly  employed  to  illustrate  only  the  impossi- 
hie  or  the  absurd^  or  that  which  is  supposed  to  be  so, 
whether  actually  or  approximately.  Thus  *'  ac,  veluti 
stet  volucris  dies,  parcis  deripere,"  &c. — Carm.  III. 
XXVIII.  6-7.  Such  expressions  as  *'  volucris  fati  tar- 
davit  alas," — Carm.  II.  xvii.  24-5, — are  not  in  point, 
for  it  is  evident  that  the  postponement  of  an  event  or 
issue  in  time  is  metaphorically  intended.  The  signi- 
fication of  tempus  morari,  then,  would  be  to  stop^  the 

*  Probably  the  most  extreme  case  open  to  human  conception 
of  an  apparent  approach  to  suspension  of  the  progress  of  Time  oc- 
curs in  connexion  with  a  sublime  passage  of  Holy  Scripture — 
"  Then  spake  Joshua  to  the  Lord  in  the  day  when  the  Lord  de- 
livered up  the  Amorites  before  the  children  of  Israel,  and  he  said 
in  the  sight  of  Israel,  Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon,  and  thou, 
Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon.  And  the  sun  stood  still  and  the 
moon  stayed,"  &c. — Joshua,  x.  12,  13.  However  duration  itself 
(to  bar  which  would  be  more  than  a  miraculous  interruption  of  the 
mere  course  of  nature),  is  independent  of  particular  appearances 
of  anything  used  as  a  measure  of  it;  and  the  appearances  in  this 
case  may  have  been  due  to  a  miraculously  increased  intensity  of 
atmospheric  powers  which  even  naturally  produce  very  astonish- 
ing effects.  The  mountain-brow,  no  doubt,  represents  the  boun- 
dary of  the  sensible  (western)  horizon,  where  the  sun's  altitude 
appeared  to  stay  constant  at  a  minimum  for  the  necessary  period ; 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES.        203 

progress,  or  (to  speak  with  less  of  popular  metaphor) 
the  continuance  ^time;  and  would  bear  no  affinity 
whatever  to  the  English  phrase  to  delay  time.  To 
examine  the  exact  analysis  of  this  latter  expression^ 
or  the  precise  propriety  of  its  use,  would  be  entirely 
beside  the  present  question.  It  suffices  if  it  be  here 
established  that  the  Latins  had  no  such  phrase  as 
tempus  morari:  and  that,  had  they  had  such,  its  sig- 
nification would  have  been  wholly  different  from  that 
assigned  to  it  by  the  commentators  in  the  passage  un- 
der consideration. 

Having  necessarily  dilated  in  seeking  confirma- 
tion for  our  first  objection,  we  are  now  enabled  to 
pursue  a  narrower  and  less  rugged  path  in  inquir- 
ing whether  the  second  member  of  the  clause — '  tem- 
pora'— has  been  rightly  understood  by  the  com- 
mentators. That  exposition  is  ever  the  best  where 
the  author  is  his  own  expositor  ;  and  in  the  present 
instance  it  will  not  be  needful  to  travel  beyond  the 
Horatian  page  in  endeavouring  to  develope  the  true 
Horatian  sentiment. 

while  the  moon  (in  a  favourable  quarter,  suppose  the  third)  may 
be  conceived  to  have  operated  reciprocally  so  as  to  share  the  re- 
quired agency.     Thus,  although,  in  the  words  of  the  inspired 

penman, "  And  there  was  no  day  like  that  before  it  or  after  it," 

V.  14, — yet  the  picture  presented  appears  to  be  so  far  from 

necessarily  inferring  any  very  violent  disturbance  of  nature,  that 
it  may  be  regarded  as  a  marked  instance  of  that  accommodation 
of  the  language  of  Scripture  to  the  primary  and  most  natural 
conceptions  of  men,  which,  by  assisting  human  weakness,  so 
largely  favours  general  apprehension. 


204 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


The  word  ^  temporal  with  its  inflexions,  occurs 
in  fifteen  instances  in  the  works  of  Horace  as  re- 
presentative of  some  mode  of  time.  In  none  is 
it  less  specific  or  precise  than  our  English  term 
'times,'  as  contradistinguished  from  *time/  and  in 
most  it  marks  particular  periods,  eventful  seasons,  or 
notable  junctures.  An  examination  of  these  refer- 
ences will  requite  the  reader's  patience  ;  but  for  the 
present  purpose  the  quotation  of  a  very  few  passages 
will  sufiice.  See,  then,  "  orientia  tempora" — Epis.  IL 
I.  130;  "  tempora  fastosque  mundi" — Ser.  I.  iii.  112; 
"  tempora quceramy^ — Ser.  I.  ix.  58;  ^Wahiosi  tempora 
signi^' — Ser.  I.  vi.  126.  The  emendation  of  Cruquius, 
stamped  as  it  is  by  the  marked  sanction  of  Bentley, 
followed  by  (amongst  many  others)  Orellius,  Hein-t 
dorf,  and  Milman,  will  disentitle  this  last  passage  to 
absolute  rank  among  examples;  but  it  is  of  some  rela- 
tive value  as  furnishing  an  easy  introduction  for  the 
remark,  that  a  leading  and  emphatic  force  of '  tempora^ 
is  its  application  to  the  transitions  and  revolutions 
of  the  heavenly  bodies.  See  its  construction  above 
with  *  moment is,^  which  is  itself  used  in  this  sense  by 
our  author  in  the  only  place  where  it  again  occurs, 
viz. — ''momenta  Leonis" — Epis.  I.  x.  1 6 ;  and  *  orientia 
tempora  is  probably  a  trope  derivable  from  this  very 
notion.  Now,  be  it  observed  that  the  comparison 
of  the  emperor  to  a  dazzling  luminary^  and  of  the 
improvements,  which  his  superintendence  was  intro- 
ducing, to  the  beneficial  influences  of  a  star  or  con- 
stellationj  ushering  in  a  genial  season,  was  familiar  to 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES.         205 

the  poet's  mind.  Thus,  in  the  seventeenth  line,  we 
find  the  remarkable  expression, — "Nil  oriturum  alias, 
nil  ortum  tale  fatentes," — in  reference  to  Cassar;  and 
this  is  immediately  preceded  by  two  others  which 
evidently  coexist  in  the  same  association  with  it, 
*'  Urit  enimfulgore  suo^'  &c.,  and — ''extinctus  amabitur 
idem.''  Again,  whatever  judgment  may  be  formed  of 
the  opposite  views  of  DacierandMitscherlich  respect- 
ing the  opening  verse  of  the  ode,  '  Divis  orte  bonis,' 
there  can  be  no  mistake  about  the  following  passage: 

Lucem  redde  tuae.  Dux  bone,  patriae  : 

Instar  veris  enim  vultus  uhi  tuus 

Affulsit  populo,  gratior  it  dies, 

Et  soles  melius  nitent. 

Carm.  IV.  V.  5-8. 

This  image  is  found  elsewhere  also  in  our  author, 
as  in — ''Solem  Asise  Brutum  appellat;  stellasque  salu- 
bres  comites  ejus,"  &c. — Ser.I.  vii.  24-5.  Thus,  then, 
we  at  length  approach  a  full  view  of  an  entirely  new 
meaning  of  our  text,  which  it  is  hoped  shall  appear 
improbable  to  none,  and  morally  certain  to  some, 
viz.,  that  Horace  really  intends  by  the  expression 
"  morer  tua  temporal'  the  keeping  back  or  retarding  of 
the  Emperor's  shinings-forth  before  his  people  as  a 
heavenly  agent  of  national  good. 

It  were  a  profitless  task  to  review,  in  the  second 
instance,  the  multiplied  discussions  of  the  commen- 
tators upon  the  former  part  of  the  verse,  viz. — "  si 
longo  sermone" — :  while  they  strive  in  vain  to  disen- 
tangle the  poet  from  difficulties  in  which  they  have 


f 


f 


206 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


themselves  involved  him.  But  as  the  hand-book  of 
Professor  Anthon,  a  work  whose  plan  amply  relieves 
the  momentary  wants  of  the  hurried  or  helpless  stu- 
dent, and  the  abler  (though  more  limited)  manual 
of  the  acute  and  judicious  M'Caul,  as  well  as  vari- 
ous other  compendia,  have  given  a  fixed  currency,  in 
the  schools  of  these  countries  generally,  to  Bishop 
Kurd's  acceptation  of '  serinone!  in  the  sense  of  ''pre- 
face^ without  at  all  noticing  Dr.  Parr's  confutation 
of  it  (though  they  in  general  give  his  far-fetched  re- 
mark upon  *  longo^  as  meaning  '  long  relatively  to  the 
importance  of  the  subject'),  it  may  be  as  well  to  intro- 
duce a  new  view  of  the  clause  by  a  quotation  from 
the  latter  writer's  work,  which  is  scarce. 

In  a  note  to  his  ironical  dedication  of  the  Warbur- 
tonian  Tracts  to  the  above  distinguished  prelate,  Dr. 
Parr  remarks,  in  his  usual  sharp  style  of  criticism, — 
*'  The  commentator"  (meaning Dr.  Hurd  himself)  **  ex- 
plains longo  sermone,  *  a  long  introduction,'  and  in  the 
close  of  his  note  he  interweaves  into  the  word  sermone 
the  additional  meaning  of  *  familiar  conversation.' 
But  to  me,  I  confess,  the  word  as  used  here  suggests 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  sense  ;  and  even  with 
the  aid  of  the  learned  commentator,  I  am  imable  to 
see  how,  in  one  and  the  same  place,  it  holds  two 
meanings  so  very  remote  from  each  other.  Sermo 
is  used  here  in  the  same  sense  which  it  bears  in 
line  5,  Carmen  8,  lib.  3,  of  the  Odes,  where  the  close 
of  Bentley's  note  may  illustrate  this  disputed  passage 
in  the  Epistle  to  Augustus." — The  note  of  Bentley 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES.         207 


reads  as  follows.  After  observing  with  characteristic 
sagacity,  that  the  expression,  "  Docte  sermones  utri- 
usque  Z%W6^,"  cannot  mean,  as  addressed  toM^cenas, 
mere  education  in  the  Greek  language  (an  attainment 
common-place  in  respectable  ranks  of  societyat  that 
period)  and  acquaintance  with  his  own,  the  learned 
critic  proceeds  :  "  Enimvero  aliud  quid  et  majus  hie 
significat  sermones, nemi^e  Z/Jr6>5  Tractatus,  Historias, 
ut  apud  GraBCOs  AOPOI,  Xenophontis  OIkovo^lko^ 
Xoyo^,  &c.  Inde  Oratores,  Philosophi,  Historici 
Aoyoypaipoi  appellati.  Ita  Horatius  Satiras  suas  ser- 
mones, sive  A6yov9  inscripsit,  et  Carm.  III.  xxi. — 
non  ilk  quamnis  Socraticis  madet  sermonibus,  &c., 
id  est  ^wKpaTLKo:^  \oYoi9."— Mitscherlitch  suggests 
IxvBov^,  which  is  not  borne  out  by  Passow's  dicta  un- 
der head  of  ^ivOo^  and  \6yo^.  But  whatever  be  the 
Greek  or  English  parallel,  Dr.  Kurd's  version,  "  In- 
troduction''  is  wholly  without  authority  or  precedent 

of  any  kind. 

The  entire  controversy,  in  which  the  above  dispu- 
tants are  only  two  in  a  crowd,  appears  to  have  arisen 
from  inattention  to  the  simple  consistency  of  the  present 
tense  throughout  the  passage.  This  has  not  been  re- 
marked upon,  though  it  may  have  suggested  the  plain 
direct  view  of  Sanadon  and  Orellius.  Nothing  can 
be  more  simple  than  the  diction  of  Horace,  if  he  will 
only  be  allowed  to  speak  in  his  own  words.  Horace 
does  not  intend  to  convey  in  this  passage  that  the  pub- 
lic welfare  would  suffer  z^;^^he  to  detain  the  emperor 
from  imperial  callings,  but  he  confesses  that  he  feels 


208 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES. 


209 


I 


he  is  probably  interfering  with  general  interests  by  so 
detaining  him.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  both  necessary 
and  desirable  that  the  passage  should  be  rendered  in 
the  following,  or  in  any  other  tantamount  terms  : — 
*'  Since  you,  0  Caesar,  support  single-handed  so  many 
and  weighty  functions,  protect  Italian  interests  by 
prowess,  grace  them  in  moral  comeliness,  rectify  them 
by  legislation,  (I feel  that)  I  may  probably  sin  against 
the  national  weal,  if  I  impede  (or,  in  thus  impeding) 
your  beneficent  public  manifestations  by  (closeting  you 
to  peruse)  a  lengthy  literary  disquisition." 

The  delicacy  of  the  subjunctive  verbal  form 
throughout  in  the  original,  presenting  in  the  several 
clauses  not  objective  fact  but  subjective  conception, 
seems  incapable  of  being  conveyed  by  any  of  the  or- 
dinary English  auxiliaries  (of  which  our  language 
avails  itself  as  supplying  the  want  of  a  subjunctive 
mood)  without,  at  the  same  time,  weakening  the 
amount  of  absolute  truth  which  such  conceptions  are 
calculated  to  imply :  but  the  force  of  the  conceptive 
form  peccem  seems  adequately  rendered  by  the  ad- 
verb ^  probably,^ 

The  applicability  of  the  present  subjunctive  to  ex- 
press in  independent  sentences  a  contingency  which 
the  mind  of  the  writer  subjectively  regards  as  morally 
probable  whether  subjectively  or  objectively,  would  ap- 
pear to  be  well  sustained  by  its  use  in  our  author's 
works  and  elsewhere.  But  it  must  not  be  denied  that 
no  notice  of  this  peculiarity  is  taken  by  the  eminent 
Professor  Zumpt,  whose  rules  are  deservedly  autho- 


ritative both  in  England  and  on  the  Continent.  The 
following  passages  appear  to  supply  advantageous  in- 
stances in  point: — •'*  Quid  statis  ?  Nolint,'^ — Ser.  I. 
I.  19, — tantamount  to  ''the  chances  are,  they're  unwil- 
ling!' Again,  "In  primis  valeas  bene," — Ser.  II.  ii.  71, 
— i.  e.  "  among  tlie  chief  advantages,  you  are  likely  to 
enjoy  good  heaWf — a  blessing  which,  of  course,  the 
utmost  caution  could  not  guarantee.  Again,  "  quod 
non  desit  habentem," — Epis.  II.  n.  52, — i.  e.  "having 
what  is  not  likely  to  fail."  In  the  ^neid  we  find  ex- 
actly the  same  association, — "  Hoc  Ithacus  velit^  et 
magno  mercentur  Atreida3." — ii.  104.  And  finally, 
not  to  multiply  instances,  a  strong  case  occurs  in  the 
(so  called)  Catilinarian  War, — "quem  neque  gloria, 
neque  pericula  excitant,  nequidquam  hortere." — Cap. 
Lviii.  In  all  these  places  an  absolute  and  independent 
power  of  implying  probability  over  and  above  mere 
conceptive  contingency  is  observable.  But,  of  course, 
the  ground  of  such  probability  is  inherent  in  the  con- 
text, and  therefore  the  independence  here  spoken  of 
is  a  constructive  independence,  and  not  such  as  would 
infer  that  the  verbal-form  could  be  self-significant  of 
probability. 

A  condition  must  indeed  be  always  implied  more 
or  less :  and  the  immediate  context,  though  not  ex- 
pressed hypothetically,  may  be  so  resolvable;  as,  for 
instance,  the  last  example  quoted  above  is  tantamount 
to — [si  ali-]'quem  neque  gloria,  neque  pericula  ex- 
citant, [sequitur  ut  eum]  nequidquam  hortere.' 


o 


210 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES. 


211 


*( 


Prjesenti  tibi  maturos  largimur  honores, 
jurandasque  tuum  per  nomen  ponimus  aras. 

Epis.  II.  I.  15-6. 

The  commentators  have  permitted  two  apparent  mis- 
conceptions to  mar  this  passage :  one  both  of  mean- 
ing and  construction;  the  other  of  meaning  only. 
With  regard  to  the  former,  they  all  confound  '  juran- 
das  tuum  per  nomen'  above,  with  the  expression  'ju- 
rare  per  aliquid^  and  they  accumulate  instances  of 
this  use  of  ' per\  as  if  any  scholar  could  doubt  the 
fact  that  it  may  be,  and  commonly  is,  so  used. 

But  if  such  be  its  signification  here,  what  is  the  mean- 
ing of  'jiirandas'  ?  If  it  be  supposed  that  the  word  can 
signify  '  to  be  sworn  at,  beside,  or  before,'  the  answer 
is  simple — that  such  is  not  consistent  with  the  fact 
of  classical  usage.  No  meaning  can  be  extracted  from 
the  Yerhjuro  but  that  assigned  by  Ovid  in  a  parallel 
phrase — ''diis  juranda  palus," — Met.  ii.  21,— i.  e.  'to 
be  sworn  by.'  But  it  is  asserted,  as  if  in  explanation, 
that  the  party  would  hold  the  altar  while  he  swore. 
Probably  so :  but  this  does  not  prove  that  « jurare 
aram  can  mean  '  to  hold  by  an  altar,  while  you  swear 
by  something  else.* 

The  apparent  difficulty  is  easily  removed.  *  Per' 
must  here  imply  not  '  bij  but  *  through'.  And  the 
poet  intimates  that  altars  would  derive  their  sacred- 
ness  as  objects  of  adjuration— they  would  become 
arce  jurandce—in  virtue  of  the  Emperor's  name,  to 
which  they  would  be  solemnly  dedicated. 


But  has  not  the  delicacy  oi  the  future  notion  im- 
plied in  'jurandas '  been  also  overlooked,  although 
the  admitted  fact  that  Augustus,  probably  from  mo- 
tives of  state  policy,  rigidly  forbade  the  practice  here 
alluded  to,  might  have  suggested  it  ? — *'  Templa 
quamvis  sciret  etiam  proconsulibus  decerni  solere,  in 
nulla  tamen  provincia  nisi  com  muni  suo  Romaeque 
nomine  recepit;  nam  in  Urbe  quidem  pertinacissime 
abstinuit  hoc  hon ore."— Suet.  Vit.  Oct.  lii.  This  is 
the  point  then  which  the  poet  seems  to  guard;  the 
language  being,  in  all  probability,  purely  figurative: 
as  if  he  had  said — '  the  materiel  for  the  rendering  of 
divine  honours  is  ready  prepared :  its  application  to 
the  purpose  is  merely  a  question  oi  future  time! 


Si,  quia  Graiorum  sunt  antiquissima  qu^equ^ 
scripta  vel  optima,  romani  pensantur  eadem 
scriptores  trutina,  non  est  quod  multa  loquamur ; 
Nil  intra  est  oleam,  nil  extra  est  in  nuce  duri  ; 

VeNIMUS  ad  SUMMUM  FORTUNiE,  PINGIMUS  ATQUE 
PSALLIMUS  ET  LUCTAMUR  AcHIVIS  DOCTIUS  UNCTIS. 

Epis.  II.  I.  28-33. 

The  elaborate  disquisitions  of  Bishop  Ilurd  and 
others,  upon  the  reasoning  here  employed,  while  they 
would  represent  its  general  tenor  as  very  intricate, 
leave  its  literal  forms  and  their  connexion  wholly 
unexplained. 

Let  us  just  view  the  condition,  and  the  inference 

o2 


212 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


which  it  involves,    disentangled  from   subordinate 
details.  '  If,'  says  Horace,  '  because  the  several  most 
ancient  extant  productions    of  Greek  writers   are 
even  (i.  e.  fully  granting  the  fact)  the  best,  Roman 
writers  are  therefore  weighed  in  the  same  scale — 
[it  follows  that]— we  Romans  paint,  perform  musical 
pieces,  and  conduct  athletic  sports,  more  scientifically 
than  the  Greeks'     Why  so?    Where  exactly  lies  the 
vis  consequentice?     It  is  generally  supposed  that  the 
consequent  here  merely  conveys  a  general  instance 
to  the  effect — '  any  absurdity  may  be  as  well  main- 
tained:' or,  as  Bishop  Hurd  paraphrases  this  senti- 
ment— "  There  was  no  reasoning  with  persons  ca- 
pable of  such  extravagant  positions r    Horace  seems 
to  have  thought  otherwise.    According  to  him  there 
was  no  need  of  much  reasoning  with  them — '  non  est 
quod  multa  loquarum' — but  there  was  need  of  some; 
although  much  less,  and  of  a  simpler  kind,  than  the 
learned  prelate  himself  and  others  have  expended 
upon  the  subject. 

What  has  added  not  a  little  to  the  embarrassment 
here  felt  is,  that  the  exact  application  of  the  verse — 
*  Nil  intra  est  oleam^  &c.— is  disputed.  Most  persons 
take  it  as  a  kind  of  duplicate  phrase  to  imply  '  absur- 
dity': this  is  an  easy  generality.  Orellius,  more  inge- 
niously observes — *'  verum  potius  est  tvBviuiixa  con- 
tractum  et  implicatum  ex  his:  1.)  Oliva  et  nux 
similes  sunt  fructus,  quoniam  ex  utraque  oleum  ex- 
primitur ;  2.)  Nihil  duri  est  intra  nucem;  ergo  neque 
intra  olivam;  3.)  Nihil  duri  est  extra  olivam;  ergo  ne- 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES. 


213 


que  extra  nucem."  And  he  apologizes  for  the  intro- 
duction of  such  a  puerility  by  Horace  on  the  ground 
that  it  may  be  borrowed  from  the  quibbles  of  the 
schools.  But  to  return  to  the  argument — which, 
after  all,  may  truly  be  said  (if  the  reader  will  not 
suspect  a  jest)  to  '  lie  in  a  nutshell.' 

Horace's  plea  for  modern,  in  comparison  with  an- 
cient, Roman  poets,  as  developed  in  the  seventy-five 
verses — from  v.  18  to  92  —  over  which  it  extends, 
rests  on  two  positions,  a  negative  and  a  positive : — 1st, 
That  priority  in  time  gives  no  warrant  of  superiority 
in  merit.  2nd,  That  the  ancients  are  in  fact  inferior. 
The  root  of  complication  in  the  present  instance 
seems  to  lie  in  the  circumstance  of  the  commentators 
having  universally  supposed  what  is  the  proper  con- 
clusion of  the  first  part,  as  here  stated,  to  be  identical 
with  the  conclusion  of  a  merely  subsidiary  argument. 
In  the  passage  before  us  Horace  draws  no  compari- 
son between  ancient  and  modern  Roman  writers.  He 
merely  denies  the  case  of  the  most  ancient  extant 
Greek  wTiters  to  be  parallel  to  that  of  the  Roman: 
and  his  statement  of  the  case  appears  tantamount  to 
the  following — '  If  we  compare  ancient  Grecian  with 
ancient  Roman  poetry  on  the  one  hand,  and  modern 
Grecian  with  modern  Roman  proficiency  in  arts  on 
the  other,  we  shall  have  as  undoubted  a  contrast  be- 
tween the  refined  and  the  rough  in  the  former  case  as 
must  be  admitted  to  exist  in  the  latter,  although  it  be 
less  universally  evident;  just  as  in  the  instance  of  an 
olive  and  a  nut,  the  unseen  stone  of  the  former  is  as 


214 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


certainly  present  as  the  outward  shell  of  the  latter;  and 
he  who  denies  the  existence  of  the  former  might  as 
well  maintain  the  external  covering  of  the  latter  fruit 
to  be  the  softer  part.  Thus  as  well  might  it  be  asserted 
that  we  now  paint,  &c.,  "  Achivis  doctius^'  as  that  our 
ancient  performances  are  not  relatively  to  the  ancient 
Greek,  as  the  stone  of  an  olive  to  the  esculent  part/ 
Thus  the  much  disputed  bearing  of  the  simile  of 
the  '  nut'  and  '  olive,'  would  appear  to  be  neither  a 
mere  form  for  expressing '  the  absurd,'  nor  yet  a  scho- 
lastic quibble;  but  a  natural  illustration  of  a  given 
reciprocal  position. 


Adjecere  bon^  paullo  plus  artis  Athene, 
Scilicet  ut  possem  curvo  dignoscere  rectum, 

AtQUE  inter  SYLVAS  AcADEMI  QUiERERE  VERUM. 

Epist.  II.  II.  43-5. 

The  principle  that  right  and  icrong  mutually  exhibit 
each  the  other  is  so  essential  a  component  of  every 
argument,  and  is  so  plainly  reduced  to  a  proverbial 
form  by  Greek  writers,  that  it  seems  strange  that  no 
one  should  have  recognised  it  in  the  Latin  dress 
which  it  wears  in  the  second  of  the  preceding  verses. 
In  Sophocles  we  have  a  very  striking  parallel — 

FvaJjurjC  TTOVJjpac  KavoGiv  avafitTpovfjievog 

"loTO)  TO  <T{»)(hpOV. 

Elec.  52-3. 
The  converse  application  is  found  in  Euripides— 

Oldiv  TO  7'  ai<T\pov  Kavovi  rov  koXov  fiaOivv* 

Hec.  600. 


DETACHED  PASSAGES  OF  THE  EPISTLES.         215 

Again,  upon  the  verse  of  Homer — 

"Og  p  y^Ti  vifxecriv  Tt  koI  aitrx^o,  iroXX  dvOpwirtjJV 

II.  VI.  51. 

the  Scholiast  in  Townley's  MS.,  as  quoted  by  Porson, 

remarks — *'  el  ybei  irpo^  to   (jivXdtTffeaOai  fXfj  e/xTrtTTTeti/ 
cis-  auTtt."  In  this  aspect  the  clause  should  be  rendered 
— *to  distinguish  the  right  {not  from,  but)  by  the 
wrong':  that  is,  by  the  scholastic  exercise  of  adopting 
the  wrong  side  of  questions  for  the  better  elucidation 
of  the  right.     This  practice  was  peculiarly  germane 
to  the  Academicians  irom  the  nature  of  their  tenets  ; 
and  we  have  still  a  remnant  of  it  in  the  form  of  Dis- 
putations for  collegiate  Degrees.   It  has  been  before 
maintained  (in  pp.  45-8,  and  79-86),  that  the  edu- 
cational contributions  which  our  bard  derived  from 
Athens  were  of  a  private  and  conversational,  not  of 
a  public  and  tutorial,  character.     And  it  seems  ex- 
ceedingly likely  that,  from  early  bias,  he  would  attach 
himself  to  that  particular  form  of  theoretical  discus- 
sion which  in  practical  matters  he  had  been  taught  to 
cultivate  with  his  first  perceptions.     What  does  he 
state  to  have  been  the  mode  of  training  up  to  the  prac- 
tice of  virtue  which  a  tender  preceptor  adopted  with 
respect  to  himself?    The  fixing  of  attention  upon  the 
consequences  of  vice: — "  Cum  me  hortaretur  ut  parce, 
frugaliter,  &c.  &c.,  viverem,   *  Nonne  vides  Albi  ut 
male  vivat  filius,  atque  Barrus  inopsT — '  Sectani  dis- 
milis  sis' — *  Deprensi  non  bella  est  fama  Treboni,' 
aiebat." — Serm.  I.  iv.  107-115.     In  fact  the  passage 


216 


THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE  EXAMINED. 


before  us  very  much  resembles  a  fulfilment  of  his 
father's  prophecy — 

.     .     "  Sapiens,  vitatu  quidque  petitu 
Sit  melius,  causas  reddet  tibi ;  mi  satis  est  si 
Traditum  ab  antiquis  morem  servare,"  &c. 

Serm.  I.  IV.  115-17. 

However  the  wisdom  of  such  a  mode  of  training 
may  be  judged  of,  it  must  certainly  be  admitted  that 
the  manner  which  an  Academician  would  be  likely 
to  adopt  in  enforcing  the  principles  of  acts,  and  the 
motives  of  will,  would  exactly  fall  in  with  the  prac- 
tical system  pursued  in  the  first  instance. 


tu  me  inter  strepitus  nocturxos  atque  diurnos 
Vis  canere,  et  contracta  sequi  vestigia  vatum? 

Epist.  II.  II.  79-80. 

It  is  merely  intended  here  to  add  one  to  the  many 
guesses  that  have  been  offered  in  explanation  of  the 
expression  '  Contracta  vestigia  vatum/  May  not  the 
poet  plead  ea;  ahsurdo  thus? — '  I  have  shown  that 
the  steps  of  street-passengers  in  a  tumultous  scene 
must  be  narroivly  measured  {contracta)  because  of  the 
dangers  which  beset  them :  but  if  you  expect  that 
they  shall  at  the  same  time  follow  the  bent  oi poets 
footmarks — that  their  steps  should  have  been  likewise 
contracta — you  expect  what  is  absurd.  "  Contracta 
sequi  vestigia  vatum?" — There  are  none  such:  "scrip- 
torum  chorus  omnis  amat  nemus  et  fugit  urbes."  ' — 
Supr.  77.     A  figurative  inference  is  also  obvious. 


217 


SECTION  IV. 

TRIFLING    PROPOSITIONS  ATTRIBUTED  TO  ROMAN  SATI- 
RISTS EXAMINED. 

Few  modes  of  verbal  expression  less  aid  the  disco- 
very of  truth,  or  less  influence  its  diffusion,  either  in 
knowledge  or  practice,  than  formal  enunciation  of 
truisms.  Assimilated  in  outline  both  to  the  axiom 
and  the  proverb,  such  propositions  possess  neither 
the  theoretical  applicability  of  the  one,  nor  the  prac- 
tical conclusiveness  of  the  other.  They  may  cer- 
tainly assist  very  weak  (as  in  children),  or  very  slow, 
perceptions  to  comprehend  inferences  or  appreciate 
duties;  and  are  even  employed  with  advantage  in 
exemplification  by  that  Art  which  systematizes  the 
processes  of  the  thinking  mind,  as  animal  mechanics 
reduce  to  law  the  energies  of  the  moving  body. 

In  the  former  case,  however,  they  are  properly 
truisms  only  relatively  to  the  teacher  ;  and  in 
the  latter  are  not  used  for  the  sake  of  the  matter 
which  they  communicate,  but  merely  as  exhibiting, 
by  insignificant  but  indisputable  examples,  certain 
constructions  to  which  even  the  most  valuable  mate- 
rials must  be  adjusted;  just  as  very  weak  and  inarti- 
ficial pieces  of  matter  may  exemplify  the  operation 
ofthe  highest  physical  functions.  But  as  exponents  of 
actual  thought  amongst  men  they  betray  barrenness 


218 


TRIFLING  PROPOSITIONS 


of  mind  even  in  common  conversation,  and  should  be 
wholly  forbidden  to  disfigure  the  philosophic  page. 
At  the  same  time  it  must  be  observed  that  it  is  by 
the  meaning  imputed  to  a  proposition,  and  not  by  its 
actual  phraseology,  that  its  character  in  this  respect 
is  to  be  estimated.  A  saying  translated  or  under- 
stood in  one  of  two  admissible  views  may  be  purely 
trifling,  which  may  yet  yield  an  excellent  sense  when 
the  other  is  suggested.  So  independent  indeed  of 
the  words  may  the  sense  be,  that  even  the  most  ap- 
parently trifling  class  of  all  conceivable  expressions, 
— namely,  the  predicating  a  term  of  itself — may,  by 
virtue  of  a  peculiar  emphasis  of  meaning,  almost  reach 
proverbial  rank.  For  instance,  the  burden  of  a  very 
popular  ballad  of  Robert  Burns  is — 

"  A  man's  a  man,  for  a'  that;" 

a  homely  phrase,  whose  significance,  were  it  duly 
estimated,  would  often  materially  alter  the  conduct 
of  superiors  towards  inferiors  in  worldly  condition. 
If  the  remarks  before  made  on  truisms  properly 
so  called  be  correct,  it  will  be  readily  conceded 
that  fruitless  excrescences  of  this  kind  must  be  re- 
garded as  peculiarly  unlikely  beforehand  to  cum- 
ber the  ground  which  blooms  with  the  animating 
freshness  and  charming  variety  of  the  mental  pro- 
ductions of  Horace.  Still  less,  if  it  were  possible, 
would  any  weak  or  futile  dictum  be  supposed  com- 
patible with  the  intense  earnestness  and  undaunted 
courage  of  Juvenal.  This  latter  author  is  pro- 
perly without  the  pale  of  our  general  treatise.     But 


DEFINED  IN  THEIR  PRESENT  ACCEPTATION.   219 

as  he  is  a  joint  sufferer  with  Horace,  in  the  depart- 
ment here  alluded  to,  it  is  a  befitting  tribute  to  the 
stern  and  truthful  impressiveness  of  one  of  virtue's 
most  disinterested  friends,  to  include  him  in  this  at- 
tempted vindication.  And  assuredly  there  is  no 
true  admirer  of  the  enduring  contributions  which 
these  two  poet-philosophers  have  afforded  to  the 
knowledge  of  things  and  the  graces  of  literature,  who 
would  not  rejoice  to  find,  even  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
that  the  few  trifling  propositions  which  have  been 
unanimously  attributed  to  them  by  the  commentators 
are,  after  all,  misconceptions  of  the  true  and  simple 
meaning. 

To  assert  directly,  however,  that  universal  error  in 
such  simple  cases  has  in  fact  prevailed,  must  appear 
to  be  a  rather  adventurous  statement  on  the  part  of 
any  modern  writer.    But  the  following  modification 
may  claim  an  unprejudiced  attention,  namely, — That 
certain  passages  in  the  works  of  Horace  and  Juve- 
nal, which,  as  heretofore  understood,  have  yielded 
a  confessedly  trifling  meaning,   are  susceptible   of 
translations  which  not  only  convey  substantive  sen- 
timents, but  such  as  contribute,  so  far  as  they  go,  to 
enforce  the  authors'  doctrines  in  the  context.     The 
instances  adducible  in  proof  of  this  position  are  hap- 
pily so  few  as  to  have  precluded  the  occurrence  of 
any  serious  mischief  from  the  misconception  here 
supposed ;  though  they  appear  to  be  suflSciently  nu- 
merous to  justify  this  notice. 


220 


TRIFLING  PROrOSITIONS 


Nam  VITUS  nemo  sine  nascitur  :  optimus  ille  est 

Qui  minimis  urgetur. 

Serm.  I.  III.  68-9. 

Or  the  class  of  propositions  just  now  alluded  to  the 
above  extract  furnishes  a  prominent  example,  in  its 
latter  clause.  The  wliole  passage  is  invariably  ren- 
dered— "  For  no  one  is  born  free  from  faults — he 
is  best  who  is  borne  down  (or  oppressed)  by  fewest 
(faults)." 

The  increase  to  our  knowledc^e  which  such  a  sen- 
timent  affords  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following: 
— *  No  one  is  free  from  occasional  bodily  infirmities: 
he  is  most  healthy  who  is  affected  by  least'  It  re- 
quires no  Hippocrates  to  inculcate  this  fact.  Now, 
by  simple  conversion  of  Horace's  proposition  an  en- 
tirely new  view  is  given.  The  logical  reader  must 
not  feel  alarmed  on  hearing  of 'simple  conversion'  of 
a  universal  affirmation,  for  the  given  terms  are  reci- 
procal. We  thus  have  the  '  optimus'  as  our  subject, 
and  the  '  qui  minimis  urgetur'  as  predicate;  as  '  opti- 
mus—  est — ille  qui  minimis  (vitiis)  urgetur' :  and  the 
whole  sentiment  runs  thus: — Nohuman  bein^  is  born 
into  this  world  exempt  from  faults  of  character:  and, 
(to  take  the  extreme  conceivable  case  as  proof),  the 
most  that  can  be  said  for  the  best  man  (could  he  be 
instanced)  is  that  he  is  clogged  by  the  least  amount 
of  faults;  but  it  would  not  be  true  to  say  that  he  is 
afflicted  with  none: — 'The  best  man — is — he  who  is 
depressed  by  fewest  faults.'     If  this  be  the  author's 


ELIMINATED  FROM  THE  SATIRES  OF  HORACE.    221 

real  meaning,  its  being  so  shaded  as  to  escape  gene- 
ral apprehension,  can  be  accounted  for  only  by  the 
fact  that  a  metrical  requirement  has  partially  distri- 
buted the  predicate  about  the  copula.  But  the  latter 
is  much  more  easily  extricated  than  in  multitudes  of 
cases  where  it  is  commonly  absorbed. 

In  this  view,  then,  so  far  is  the  sentiment  from  pro- 
pounding a  truism,  that  it  does  not  generally  seem 
to  be  felt  as  a  truth.      For  we  continually  hear 
people  praising  one  another  as  'faultless'  characters ; 
and  that  not  merely  in  fanciful  poetry,  but  even  in 
the  gravest  prose  :  so  that  the  statistics  of  notices  of 
deaths,  for  instance,  whether  passing  or  monumental, 
would  make  it  appear  not  only  that '  spotless,'  'blame- 
less,' '  pure,'  and '  perfect'  beings  may  ordinarily  exist 
in  the  world,  but  that  such  even  exhibit  a  fair  ave- 
rage amount  in  respectable  classes  of  society.     And 
in  a  somewhat  similar  manner  the  pride  of  human 
nature  is  fostered  by  such  dogmas  as  the  following, 
enunciated  in  Pope's  peculiarly  didactic  style  of  theo- 
rizing, and  of  course  extensively  adopted  : 

*'  An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  of*  God." 

And,  again : 

"  For  modes  of  faith  let  graceless  zealots  fight ; 
His  can't  be  wrong,  whose  life  is  in  the  right." 

Had  the  light  of  revelation  illuminated  our  poet  phi- 
losopher's page,  he  would  have  written  more  humbly 
than  this  Christian  moralist;  and  would  certainly 
have  nothing  to  recall  in  his  own  sentiment  which 
we  have  just  now  examined. 


222  TRIFLING  PROPOSITIONS 

non  qui  sidonio  contendere  callidus  ostro 
Nescit  Aquinatem  potantia  vellera  fucum, 
Certius  accipiet  damnum  propiusve  medullis, 
quam  qui  non  poterit  vero  distinguere  falsum. 

Epist.  I.  X.  26-9. 

The  paraphrase  of  Professor  Anthon  maybe  taken  as 
fairly  representative  of  the '  general  sense'  upon  this 
passage : — "  Horace  compares  the  taste  of  nature  to 
the  true  purple,  and  that  of  the  passions  to  a  counter- 
feit colour.  The  man,  he  observes,  who  cannot  dis- 
tinguish between  what  is  true  and  what  is  false,  will 
as  surely  injure  himself,  as  the  merchant  who  knows 
not  the  difference  between  the  genuine  purple  and 
that  which  is  the  reverse."  That  is,  in  short—*  The 
difference  between  truth  and  falsehood  is  no  less  im- 
portant, than  to  a  trader  is  the  right  estimate  of  dye- 
stuffs.'  A  sufficiently  cold  and  negative  compliment 
paid  to  Truth,  it  must  be  confessed.  May  we  not  here 
allowably  remark  of  Horace,  with  a  slight  license  of 
adaptation,  as  Juvenal  does  of  Cicero? 

[Hie  "  viles  ludos'l  ^*potuit  contemnere,  si  sic 
Omnia  dixisset" ! 

But  such  is  not  the  meagre  sentiment  of  the  poet- 
philosopher.  By  simple  attention  to  the  prominent 
emphasis  of  the  initial  negative,  a  quite  different  light 
is  cast  upon  the  passage.  By  it  the  author  enters,  as 
it  were,  an  indignant  protest  against  the  false  estimates 
of  selfish  reasoners.  '''Tis  not  the  fact,''  he  says  (as 
the  sordid  practices  of  men  would  imply  it  to  be). 


ELIMINATED  FROM  THE  EPISTLES  OF  HORACE.    223 

"  that  he  who  miscalculates  his  worldly  gains  shall 
incur  a  more  real  loss,  or  one  nearer  to  his  vital  in- 
terests, than  he  who  shall  not  be  able  to  distinguish 
truth  from  falsehood." 

The  language  too  is  evidently  pointed  with  caustic 
significance  against  the  vanities  of  engrossing  pur- 
suits of  the  former  kind :  and  here  also,  as  in  the 
preceding  case,  the  habits  of  the  present  day,  equally 
as  in  the  time  of  Horace,  remove  the  sentiment  very 
far  indeed  from  being  received  as  a  truism. 


Sic  honor  et  nomen  divinis  vatibus  atque 
Carminibus  venit.     Post  hos  insignis  Homerus,  &c. 

Epis.  ad  Pis.  400-1. 

The  former  sentence  here  is  constantly  rendered — 
*  Thus  credit  and  celebrity  accrued  to  divine  poets 
and  their  lays.'  But  the  extreme  conceivable  amount 
of  this  '  honor  et  nomen'  would  consist  in  their  being 
accounted  '  divine';  for  no  '  divinity'  independent  of 
the  attribution  of  men  was  pretended  here,  as  it  was 
in  the  instance  of  the  Gods  themselves.  Hence  the 
expression  is  a  poor  and  weak  one. 

Orellius  alone  of  the  moderns,  evidently  seeing 
this  difficulty,  but  still  regarding  '  divinis'  as  a  qua- 
lifying epithet,  remarks  with  his  usual  ability — "  a 
vatibus  mythicis,  quos  di  inspiraverant  transit  ad  his- 
toriam  poesis  vera3  apud  Griecos."  No  doubt  this  is 
refined  distinction ;  and  the  construction  now  pro- 


224 


TRIFLING  PROPOSITIONS 


posed  may  include  it.  Let  the  passage  be  read — *  Thus 
the  dignity  and  name  of  "  divine"  accrued  to/  &c. : 
just  as  in — '  dederim  quibus  esse  poetis!  '  trimetris  ac- 
crescerejussit  nonien  iamhis^  &c., — and  all  difficulty 
vanishes.  This  sentence,  being  merely  the  statement 
of  a  particular  fact,  would  scarcely  be  entitled  to  no- 
tice in  this  general  relation,  were  it  not  for  the  nature 
of  the  fact  itself. 


Maxima  debetur  puero  reverentia. 

Juv.  Sat.  XIV.  47. 

The  next  passage  which  seeks  acquittal  from  the 
charge  of  frivolity  is  supplied  from  the  works  of  Ju- 
venal. It  occurs  in  connexion  with  the  author's  argu- 
ment upon  the  fatal  effects  of  bad  example  in  adults 
as  applied  to  the  tender  susceptibilities  of  the  infant 
mind ;  and  is  comprised  in  the  above  four  plain 

words. 

The  passage  is  usually  rendered — "  The  greatest 
(that  is,  very  great)  respect  is  due  to  (the  presence 
of)  a  child."  This  meaning  requires  no  alteration. 
By  being  merely  intensified,  so  to  speak,  it  can  be 
raised  from  the  rank  of  a  saying  in  which  persons  of 
ordinary  moral  intelligence  would  find  no  accession 
to  previous  notions.  Juvenal's  point  appears  to  be 
to  impress  his  subject  with  a  vivid  energy,  by,  as  it 
were,  revolutionizing  a  received  maxim,  and  trans- 
ferring its  application /ro??!  the  old  to  the  young,  by  an 


ELIMINATED  FR0]M  THE  SATIRES  OF  JUVENAL.    225 

extreme  instance.     As  if  he  had  said—'  It  is  a  com- 
mon notion  that  respect  due  to  age  should  be  gradu- 
ated by  seniority;  and  in  conventional  civilities  this 
is  as  it  should  be.   But  in  morals  we  must  invert  the 
rule  :  and  here  it  is  to  the  (perceptive)  child  of  the 
company  that  the  chief  reverence  due  to  age  is  to  be 
paid.'— The  comparative  passiveness  of  the  ordinary 
version  has  arisen  from  apparent  inattention  to  the 
import  of  the  word  '  reverential  which  is  much  too 
strong  to  be  primarily  associable  with  '  puero!     It 
seems  on  reflection  to  be  manifestly  borrowed  from 
the  opposite  period  of  life;  and  in  the  new  accepta- 
tion will  even  form  with  its  adjunct  a  pleasing  and 
impressive  oxymoron. 


Sunt  quvEdam  vitiouum  elkmenta. 

Juv.  Sat.  XIV.  123. 

To  exhibit  the  light  in  which  this  clause  has  been 
viewed  by  even  the  best  expositors  of  Juvenal,  it  is 
merely  necessary  to  observe  that  Ruperti  refers  to 
the  following  passage  in  the  works  of  Horace,  as  pa- 
rallel and  illustrative — 

Eradcnda  ciipicllnls 

Pravi  sunt  clnicnta.     .     .     . 

Carm.  III.  XXIV.  51-2. 

Now,  as  ^cupjdo  is  an  inward  emotion,  its  'elementa' 
must  be  of  this  nature  :  and  although  in  Horace's 
aphorism  this  yields  an  excellent  sense,  yet  a  similar 
application  of  the  term  reduces  Juvenal's  proposition 

p 


226 


TRIFLING  PKOPOSinONS,  ETC. 


227 


to  the  veriest  puerility.  *'  There  are  certain  elements 
of  vices."  Deep  philosophy !  How  should  we  have 
fared  had  not  a  Juvenal  arisen  to  enlighten  us  with 
this  truth;  one  of  no  less  moment  than  would  be  the 
publication  of  the  physical  fact — '  There  are  certain 
components  of  organized  bodies'? 

But  had  the  commentators  referred  to  a  different 
passage  of  Horace, — viz.  .  .  .  '*  pueros  elementa  do- 
centem," — Epis.  I.  xx.  17, — they  might  have,  by  the 
help  of  it,  assigned  a  less  futile  sentiment  to  Juvenal. 
In  this  latter  case,  the  term  *  elementa!  is  applied  to 
the  first  principles  of  instruction  from  without,  as  it 
was  before  employed  to  signify  the  first  suggestions 
from  within:  just  as  at  present  we  speak  o^ Euclid's 
Elements,  &c.  And  applying  this  notion  to  the  im- 
mediate context,  '*  his  protinus  imhuit  illos," — the 
reader  will  be  led  to  the  very  feasible  conclusion  that 
the  author  really  means  to  state  such  to  have  been 
the  systematic  depravity  of  the  day,  that  there  existed 
actual  *  simple  formularies'  for  the  inculcation  of 
vices,  with  which,  *  from  the  outset,'  the  infant  mind 
was  habitually  *  seasoned:'  just  as  easy  precepts  are 
ordinarily  employed  for  the  inculcation  of  virtues  on 
the  tender  perception  of  children. 

But  the  numerical  index  of  our  page  now  strongly 
recalls  the  words  of  the  Mantuan  bard — 

Sed  nos  immensum  spatiis  confecimua  oequor : 
Et  jam  tempus  equum  furaantia  solvere  colla. 

This  latter  task  we  now  proceed  gradually  to  perform. 


SECTION  V. 

ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  SUITABILITY  OF  THE  ANCIENT 
EPIC  AND  LYRIC  STYLES  TO  MODERN  SUBJECTS  OF 
NATIONAL  AND  GENERAL  INTEREST. 

The  purposes  to  which  the  two  generic  classes  of 
metres  employed  by  Horace  are  now  generally  ap- 
plied are  in  themselves  so  very  elementary,  and  are 
so  poorly  answered  by  the  accruing  results,  that  pro- 
fessors and  lecturers,  on  the  one  hand,  appear  to  think 
it  incumbent  on  them  to  conform  to  a  habit  of  dig- 
nified reserve  in  confining  themselves  altogether  to 
the  use  of  the  inverted  end  of  the  stylus;  while,  on  the 
other,  students  seem  to  conceive  that  the  metres  of 
a  dead  language  may  be  well  employed  in  pleading 
apologies  for  poverty  of  living  thought. 

Compositions  fashioned  in  the  more  elaborate  de- 
partments of  metrical  science,  and  even  animated  by 
a  dignified  poetic  conception,  occasionally,  it  is  true, 
relieve  the  prosaic  tones  in  which  our  Alma  Matres 
usually  speak  themselves,  and  are  addressed  by  their 
sons.  But  such  seldom  effectually  embody  living 
associations:  and  hence  they  generally  savour  more 
of  artistic  subtilty  than  of  spontaneous  suggestion; 
and  are  proportionately  devoid  of  popular  interest. 

It  has  fared  better  with  the  elegant  colloquialisms 
of  polite  comedy:  and  the  Prologue  and  Epilogue  of 

p  2 


228       SUITABILITY  OF  ANCIENT  METRICAL  STYLES 


*  The  Westminster  Play'  annually  afford  to  the  public 
a  pleasing  illustration  of  the  capabilities  which  the 
Latin  tongue  possesses  in  this  department  for  adap- 
tation to  the  most  modern  conventional  varieties  pro- 
per to  the  topics  of  government,  law,  politics,  com- 
merce, (Src,  and  in  fact  all  the  '  subjects'  of  the 
passing  day. 

The  following  poem  is  an  attempt  in  the  same  way 
to  accommodate  the  more  grave  and  severe  require- 
ments of  the  Latin  muse  to  the  hicjhest  class  of  na- 
tional  theme.  It  is  the  Latin  Prize  Poem  of  the 
Dublin  University,  composed  in  celebration  of  the 
birth  of  the  present  Prince  of  Wales;  and  is  so  far  at 
least  connected  with  the  subject  of  this  book,  that  it 
embodies  the  only  imitation  of  the  Carmen  Seculare 
that  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  honoured  by  a 
special  mark  of  royal  favour  since  Horace  submit- 
ted his  production  to  the  Emperor  Caesar  Augustus, 
about  the  sixteenth  year  before  the  Christian  Era. 
-  The  prizes  awarded  for  the  cultivation  of  classical 
poetry  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  are  bestowed  ex- 
clusively upon  the  Undergraduate  classes.  But  on 
this  important  occasion,  the  field  for  competition  was 
opened  to  the  whole  College,  Graduates  (under  the 
Degree  of  M.  A.)  and  Undergraduates:  and  it  w^as 
understood  to  be  desirable  that  enlarged  general 
views,  suited  to  a  national  subject,  should  supersede 
the  fulsome  compliments  which  often  impart  an  air 
of  pure  fiction  to  poetic  homage  rendered  to  Royalty. 
It  was  expressly  ordered  that  no  poem  should  exceed 


TO  MODERN  NATIONAL  SUBJECTS. 


229 


tiill 


two  hundred  verses  in  length:  to  which  precise  stan- 
dard the  present  composition  is  adjusted.  And  it  is  a 
fact  no  less  creditable  to  the  conscientious  and  critical 
rigour  of  the  Board,  than  suggestive  of  a  useful  lesson 
to  aspirants,  that  when  the  selection  of  the  successful 
composition  from  among  the  vast  amount  furnished 
was  announced,  even  some  trivial  errors  were  found 
carefully  noted  in  the  margin. 

The  author  was  subsequently  induced  to  submit 
the  Poem  to  the  judgment  of  a  Monarch  whom  it  is 
no  flattery  to  style  the  most  intellectually  endowed 
of  all  the  continental  Sovereigns ;  but  who  was  not 
even  remotely  alluded  to  in  the  Work  itself  The  let- 
ter copied  on  the  next  page,  and  bearing  a  signature 
familiar  to  European  literature— that  of  the  eminent 
Chevalier  Bunsen— together  with  an  engraving  of 
its  unique  accompaniment,  exhibits  the  result. 

The  Poem  is  here  for  the  first  time  published :  a 
previous  circulation  having  been  confined  to  a  few 
very  intimate  friends,  and  some  of  the  Fellows  of  the 
College.  It  is  presented  to  the  reader  with  such  im- 
provements in  the  text  as  a  larger  experience  has 
now  suggested,  accompanied  by  a  few  cursory  anno- 
tations; andwith  such  adaptations  as  the  author  trusts 
will  render  the  general  sentiments  permanently  appli- 
cable to  the  most  prominent  characteristics  of  the 
British  Empire  and  Constitution. 


London,  4,  Caruton  House  Tbrraob, 
September  12, 1844. 


'f!|l 


SIR. 

I  have  the  ho-aoor  to  inform  you,  that  the  Poem 
intrusted  to  my  care  has  "been  submitted  to  His  Majesty  the 
Kino  of  Prussia.  His  Majesty  has  commanded  me  to  thank  you 
in  his  name  for  the  sentiments  expressed  in  that  production 
of  yoxir  Muse,  and  to  deliver  to  you  the  Medal  for  "  Science  and 
Abts,"  -which  is  given  by  His  Majesty  as  acknowledgment  of 
distinguished  merits  in  either. 

The  Medal  will  be  delivered  to  you,  or  to  a  person  autho- 
rized by  you  to  receive  it,  at  the  OiSce  of  the  Legation,  any 
mor.iing  from  11  to  1  o'Clock,  Sunday,  of  course,  excejjted. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be.  Sir, 

Tour  obedient  Servant, 

BUNSEN. 


John  Murray,  Esq..  A.  M.,  Sec.  &c.  &c. 
2,  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 


TNC^K&VI^G   Ot    HOLD   :JEJX-.L  IN    "  SCIENCE   AND   AHl'S. 

PRESENIED  BY 

HIS    UAJESTY   IHE  KING    Or    PHUSSIr. 

JOHK  MURRAY,  T«1  •  A. 

urcccsLiT 


REGIA  NATALITIA. 


ASCANIUM  SURGENTEM,  ET  SPES  HjEREDIS  IuLI 
Respice     .... 
Imperium  sine  fine  dedi. 

ViRG. 


Martia  quid  sonitus  certent  iterare  canoros, 
Classica,  dum  armorum  quatiunt  castella  fragores* ; 
jEthera  cur  verrant  plausus,  vexillaque  laeta 
Turribus  undatim  fluitent  super  undique  suramis ; 
Musa,  precor,  moneas — prisco  mihi  thure  colenda, 
Alta  silet^  quamvis  quae  olim  spirabat  in  a3de° 
Chorda,  nee  antiquum  servat  tua  Gr^cia  numen. 

»  Armorum  fragores.']  This  innovation  upon  the  strict  import 
of  armorum  fragor,  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  excused  as  unavoidable: 
one  of  the  most  animating  features  of  modern  national  rejoicing 
being  foreign  from  Latin  associations. 

^  Aha  silet.']  This  adverbial  use  of  the  neuter  plural,  although 
not  very  usual  in  the  Latin  language,  is  instanced  by  such  cases 
as  the  following,— "Asper,  acerba  sonans ;"— Virg.  Geor.  iii.  149 ; 
"  equus  .  .  Terram  crebra  ferit."— lb.  499-500. 

«=  uEde.']  The  *  ^des  Apollinis'  at  Rome  is  intended.  The 
leading  sentiment  is  adapted  from  Moore's  Melody,  "  The  Harp 
that  once  through  Tara's  Hall,*'  «fec. 


234 


REG  I A  NATALITIA. 


Laeta  dies  radiis  festis  albata  refulsit, 
Millibus  innumeris  expleti  nuncia  voti. 
Proles  namque  novis  liodie  de  gente  vetusta 
Auspiciis  oritur  Brunsvici  pulchra  virilis; 
Imperii  qui  ha^res  validi,  populique  volentis 
Venturus  sancte  doniinus  .salvere  jubetur. 
Omina  tanta  gerit  nascens  cui  regna  debentur, 
Maxima  sub  coilo  pavit  qua?  Tethyos  uber: 
Lumiiia  nee  priiiceps  alter  vitalia  ear[)sit, 
Cui  tot  mafyna  dedere  orienti  reizna  salutem, 
Auguria  liinc  repetent  gentes  quot  fausta  remotte. 
Herculis*  acjnoscet  scandens  liunc  unda  Columnas, 
Qua^que  tumens  Melites  saxosis  intonat  oris. 
Pacificos  moiites  aqueos  contenipler,  an  Afros? 
Qua  vel  apex  supera  vanescit  Gangaris^  fctlira? 
Pellaso  juveni  nee  tantos  cessit  Aornos, 
India  persolvet  quantos  huic  dives  honores. 
Quinetiam  Ilesperias  equitans  alata  per  undas, 
Arvaque  diversis"^  pra3tenta  Cohimbia  zonis, 

•  Herculis,  ^-c]  A  sketcli  of  Great  Britain's  maritime  sway  is 
here  combined  with  an  outline  of  her  foreign  possessions.  Such 
must  necessarily  be  imperfect :  and  must  labour  under  a  difficulty 
arising  from  the  peculiar  notions  which  Latin  associations  were 
wont  to  attach  to  some  of  the  specified  localities. 

^  Apex  .  .  .  Gangaris.']  Representative  of  the  Indian 
mountain-fastnesses. 

*=  Arvaque  diversis,  ^-c]  The  Colonies  in  North  and  South  Ame- 
rica, and  the  West  Indian  islands,  are  included  in  this  verse. 


REGIA  NATALITIA.  235 

Anglica  Fama  ciet''  laatante  tonitrua  voce. 
Aura3  thura  dabunt  Australes:  ipsa  nee  ingens 
Serica  contemptrix^  quamvis  in  vita,  negabit. 

O  si  de  cckIo  liceat  terrena  beatis 
Despicere,  et  sedes  oculis  haurire  relictas, 
Gaudia  quanta  ferunt  liodie  lucentia  vultu, 
Alta  quibus  patriae  florescunt  pignora^  gratas! 
Expectata  dies,  vetuit  te  fama  perire, 
Temporis  e  rapido  servatani  flumine  gemmam! 

Nee  tamen  infantis  limo  jam  fata  maligne, 
(Ejus  quis  diadema  ferat  viduare  lapillo?) 
Si  vel  sera  precor  nostro  defunctaque  sa^clo, 
Debita  materno  potiendi  tempora  sceptro. 
Gaudia  rara  legis  sine  nexo^  vita,  dolore ! 
Spina  latens  roseos  carpentem  fallat  honores : 
Idem  qui  ^therios'  oculus  complectitur  ignes, 
Cassam  luce  pio  conspergat  rore  favillam. 

*  Anglica  .  .  ciet  .  .  tonitrua,  ^-c.']     Trans.  '  Shall  call  forth 
the  thunder  of  British  cannon.' 

^  Serica  contemptrix.]     '  Gens,'  sciz.     The  national  character- 
istic of  Chinese  exclusiveness  is  alluded  to. 

«  Alta     .     .     .     pignora.']     Trans.  *  Monumental  pledges.' 

•1  Legis  .  .  .  nexo.']     Metaphors  from  the  culling  of  flowers. 

«  Idem  qui cetherios,  ^-c]  An  illustration  of  the  close  affinity  of 
pleasure  and  pain  is  hazarded,  from  two  very  opposite  functions 
of  the  same  organ:  the  eye,  while  it  is  the  most  constant  and 
prolific  of  our  sources  of  enjoyment,  being  the  organ  which  is 
most  expressive  of  poignant  sorrow. 


236 


REGIA  NATAUTIA. 


Sic  quoque  decretum  ad  solium  quajhunchora  vocabit, 
Invida  dilectam  Matrem  donarit  Olympo. 

Absint  at  sacris  operato  ab  carmine  questus. 
Regina  potius  praesenti  et  sospite  laeti, 
Ipsi  cum  Sponso  generoso  justa  feramus^; 
Quos  8Btate  pares,  sociato  ^idere  natos, 
Ingenio  pariter,  specie,  virtute  decoros, 
Conjugium  vinxit  animis  per  mutua  nexis. 
Regie,  nee  voveam  tibi  quidquam  majus,  alumne, 
Dotibus  eximiis  referes  si  utrumque  parentem. 

Ilia  bonis  animi  locuples  atque  indole  prompta, 
Desidiae  nullam  juvenilem  prodidit  horam: 
Fidis  sed  teneros  sensus  formata  magistris, 
Artibus  incubuit  quels  mens  tollatur  ad  alta. 
Jamque^  novo  roseae  vix  acto  vere  juventaB, 
Lubrica  conscendens  sortis  fastigia  summse, 
Gentibus  una  caput  prascelsum  foemina  multis, 
Constant!  mentem  gerit  haud  virtute  minorem, 
Hospitiis  facilem,  contra  que  pericla  virilem. 
Forma  Ille  egregius,  mansueto  corde  benignus, 

^  Justa  feramus.']  Trans.  '  Let  us  offer  due  compliments.'  In 
the  performance  of  this  poetic  duty  (one  inseparable  from  the 
main  subject),  it  has  been  the  author's  desire  to  avoid  the  dress- 
ing of  any  sentiment  in  the  flimsy  guise  of  mere  flattery.  It  is 
strange  that  the  opposite  practice  should  be  sanctioned  by  the 
authority  of  many  eminent  poets. 

^  Ja7nque.'\     Trans.  '  And  next.' 


REGIA  NATALITIA. 


237 


Vultus  cui  ornatas  mentis  feliciter  index, 
Odia  nulla  gerens,  carpit  quern  nemo  inimicus, 
Laudibus  invidiam  superat :  nee  promptior  uUus, 
Sen  studio  incumbit,  seu  tela  virilia  tractat. 

Infans  ter  felix!  si  sit  tibi  munere  coeli 
Sospes  inemptus  amor,  tutelaque  fida  parentum, 
Per  vitse  ambages  firmandi  dum  tibi  gressus, 
Invalidi  puero,  juveni  per  caeca  dolosi. 
Multa  tibi  discenda  manent.     Haud  aurea  solum 
Tempora  sortitur  qui  sceptra  tuenda  capessit. 

Re^em  non  faciunt  solium,  diadema,  senatus 
Submissus,  gladii  sponte  aut  mercede  fideles; 
Rex  non  est  dominum  gentes  quem  mille  fatentur, 
Cujus  et  ad  nutum  populi  tremuere  subacti. 
Rex  est  quem,  patriae  columen,  virtutis  amicum 
Intrepidum  metuunt  hostes,  civesque  verentur; 
Aures  qui  populo  placidas  adhibere  querent! 
Usque  studet,  ficto  cautus  discernere  verum; 
Qui,  si  forte  premant  populum  ex  re  nata  tr!buta% 
Ultro  partem^  oneris  sib!  poscit  rite  ferendam. 

*  Ex  re  nata  trihuta.']  Taxation  arising  from  the  requirements 
of  the  public  service. 

^  Ultro  paHem,  ^c]  An  apposite  instance  is  furnished  in  a 
statement  which  was  familiar  in  general  circles  at  the  period  when 
the  levying  of  the  present  Income  Tax  was  first  projected  by  a 
former  Ministry;  namely,  that  Her  Majesty  had  hersdf proposed 
that  her  own  income  should  not  be  exempt. 


238 


llEGIA  NATALITIA. 


Jamque  hunc  exemplis  cei  tc  felicibus  aiictiiin 
Kisu  Spes  puerum  designans  iiidice  fausto, 
His  populum  blande  dictis  afFatur  ovantem : — 
"  Candida  dimotis  ut  quondam  stella  tenebris 
Orta  recens  homini  monstravit  prima  salutem, 
Gloriae  in  excelsis,  in  terris  nuncia  pacis; 
Aurea  sic  patrias  dilectas  saecla  reportans 
Lucifer  en  oritur,  Divini  pignus  amoris! 
Cordaque  demulcens  idem  desueta  quieti, 
Dissidii  oblitos  pacis  nos  ducit  ad  aram." 
Quod  restat,  Puero  poscamus  prospera  votis. 
Flore  viam  spargens  praecedal  Fama  perenni, 
Gloria  dum  aurato  sequitur  vestigia  curru: 
Marte-potens  dextram  Virtus,  Astrea  sinistram — 

Ecce  autem  placidaj  sertis  praBcinctus  olivge, 
Yictricem  amplexu  luctantis  vincere  laurum, 
Prodit  sacra  Chorus''  modulatus  carmina  plectris — 

»  Choinis.']  The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  the  functions  ascribed, 
in  religious  and  poetic  fancy,  to  a  Chorus  when  supposed  to 
speak  with  a  Nation's  voice.  On  the  fifth  formal  commemoration 
of  the  centenary  of  the  Roman  State,  Horace  is  known  to  have 
been  specially  appointed  to  compose  the  Secular  Song:  and  in  al- 
lusion to  the  Chorus  who  sang  it  he  thus  defines — 

Poscit  opem  Chorus,  et  procsentia  numina  sentit, 
Coelestes  implorat  aquas  docta  prece  blandus, 
Avertit  morbos,  metuenda  periciila  pellit, 
Impetrat  et  pacem,  et  locupletuni  frugibus  annum. 

Epis.  I.  I.  134-7. 


REGIA  NATALITIA. 


239 


[®i)ow  Unfit] 
CARMEN  SACRUM* 

IN 

SERENISSIMI  CAMBRIJE  PRINCIPIS  HONOREM 

ET 

PRO  IMPERII  BRITANNICI  INCOLUMITATE 

COXDITUM. 


Arbiter  mundi!     Pater  et  Redemptor! 
Cuncta  cui  parent  Domino  creata: 
Quem  colunt  coeli,  vacuoque  pendens 
Aere  terra: 

Tu  parum  Sanctis  populos  feroces 
Yiribus  tristi  domitas  ruina  ; 
Te  placet  gratis  pietate  fidos 
Toll  ere  don  is. 

*  Those  verses  of  Horace  which  are  suggestive  of  any  passages 
in  the  following  imitation  of  his  Carmen  Seculare^  will  be  found 
transcribed  in  the  notes:  not  by  way  of  explanation  or  illustration 
(which  is  generally  unnecessary),  but  in  order  that  the  exact 
amount  of  obligation  to  the  prototype  may  be  apparent. 


240 


REGIA  NATALITIA. 


Commodes  mentem  precibus  benignam, 

Natio  rebus  patriis  salutem 

DuMi  petit;  des  te  placidumque*  justis 

Tempore^  votis. 

« 

Regio  imprimis  puero  precamur, 
Fontibus  felix  jubar  ex  eois 
Qui  recens  nobis  oritur,  secundes 
Fata  futura, 

Spiritu  vitam  moderere  Sancto : 
Sit  memor  natum  Tibi  se  ministrum : 
Creditum  fidus  cumulet  talentum' 
Foenore  grandi. 

Jura  tutetur  populo  catenae 
Asperas  nunquam  docili  ferendae : 
Legibus  cives^  gladio  superbum 
Comprimat  hostera. 

•  Des  te placidumque,  ^c]     ..."  date  quae  precamur 

Tempore  sacro." 

Carm.  Sec.  3-4. 

^  Justis  Tempore  votis.']     Trans.  '  Prayers  sanctioned  by  the 

occasion.' 

«=  Creditum     .     .     .     talentum,  ^c]     The  reference  is  to  the 

scriptural  parable  of  '  the  Talents.' 

•*  Legibus  cives^  ^c] 

"  Imperet,  bellante  prior,  jacentem 
Lenis  in  hostem." 

Carm.  Sec.  51-2. 


REGIA  NATALITIA.  241 

Artibus  cultor  vacet  ille  doctis ; 
Sedibus  mitis  faveat  camen^m^ : 
Laudis  hinc  mentem  veteris  refle:^a 
Tangat  imago. 

O  quibus  Matris  capiti  venustae 
Invocem  sacro  precibus  salutem ! 
Cui  tua  optandum  nihil  hic  reliquit 
Gratia  plena. 

Unice  charus  vigeat  Maritus 
Regius :  clare  manifestus  ambos 

Coelicus  nuper  clypeus^  periclo 
Servet  ab  omni. 

0  Deus  !  prsesens  oculos  verendse 
Curise"  intendas  vigiles,  paternos; 
Cuncta  coelesti*^  monitu  statuta 
Rite  secundans. 

'  Sedibus  .     .     .     camenum.'\     Trans.  *  Seats  of  learning.* 

*"  Ccelicus  nuper  clypeu^,  ^c]  In  allusion  to  a  (then  recent) 
providential  escape  of  Her  Majesty  and  the  Prince  Consort  under 
circumstances  of  personal  danger,  to  which  it  would  be  unseason- 
able to  allude  in  such  a  connexion  as  the  present,  were  it  not  that 
both  the  Royal  fortitude  and  the  popular  loyalty  have  been  alike 
nobly  displayed  on  every  occasion  requiring  such  manifestation. 

*=  Curiae.]     Trans.  *  Parliament.' 

^  Cuncta  coslesti^  ^c] "  patrumque 

Prosperes  decreta."     .     .     . 

Carm.  Sec  17-8. 


242 


REGIA  NATALITIA. 


Protegat  fidis''  clypeum  :  rebelles 
Debitos  poenae^  meritai  refrajnet : 
Aiidiat  digne^  stabilis  tenaxqiie 
Anchora  gentis. 

Damna  depellens  populum  corones 
Gratia  totiim,  ciimulesque  donis'* 
Optimis  ;  quorum  pietas  nitescat 
Ordine  primum. 

O  bonum  solum,  pietas,  perenne ! 
Corda  pertentes  placide  Britanniim  : 
Regiam  frontem  potior  nee  ulla 
Gemma  decebit. 

Eura  centeno  bove  cui  domentur, 
Te  parum  felix  sine  condat  aurum; 
Alter  at  tecum  locuples  futurus^, 
Caitera  pauper. 

«  Fidis.']     Trans.  '  The  loyal.' 

*»  Debitos  poence,  ^-c]     For  '  quibus  poena  debetur.'     Probably 
too  bold  an  hypallage. 

«  Audiat   digne,    tjr.]     Trans.    '  May  it  be  worthily  styled,' 

&c. 

**  Cumulesqne  donis,  (J-c]     ..."  genti  date  remque  prolemque, 

Et  decus  omne." 

Carm.  Sec.  47-8. 

*  Futurus-I     This  employment  of  the  future  form  to  intimate 

habit  is  illustrated  by  the  phrase  of  Horace — 

"  His  me  consolor,  victurus  suavius,"  &c, — Serm.  I.  vi.  130. 


REGIA  NATALITIA.  243 

Veritas  fontes  reseret  docendi : 
Jusque  jurandum  tueatur  sequum  : 
Abstinens  victus  alien!  et  alma  in- 
dustria  crescat. 

Recta  doctrina  emoveat  venenum, 
Prava  quo  nomen  sociale  laedens* 
Factio,  juri  simulata,  vanas 
Falleret  aures. 

Cultui  lis  religiosa  cedat^; 
Disparis  ritus*'  pereat  simultas: 
Unitas  fratrum  violata  cesset 
Foedera  plorans. 

Copia  et  frugum^  veniente  turpis 
Pellitur  qua  pauperies,  adaucta 
Sit  peregrinis  opibus,  domique^ 
Arva  coronet. 

'  Nomen  sociale  Iceden.s.']  Trans.  '  Outraging  the  name  of  social' : 
i.  e.  by  assuming  the  designation  of  *  Socialists.^ 

^  Cultui  lis  religiosa  cedat.'}  Trans.  '  May  religious  strife  yield 
to  religious  duty.' 

•^  Disparis  ritus.]  The  causal  genitive.  Trans.  '  Because  of 
difference  of  religious  ordinance.' 

^  Copia  etfrugumJ] 

*'  Fertilis  frugum  pecorisque  tellus." 

Carm.  Sec.  29. 

'  Peregrinis  ojnbus,  domique,  ^c]  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  two 
opposite  sections  of  political  economists  will  find  their  views  ade- 
quately blended  here. 


244  REGIA  NATALITIA. 

Fine  bellorum*  placido  fruamur  : 
Nostra  dum  nemo^  temere  lacessat 
Jura,  semoto  vigeamus  aeque 
Mercibus  ense. 

Multus  hinc  riviis  scateat,  fluenta 
Aureus  quo  amnis^  sinuosa  flectens 
Intimos  sese  facili  per  agros 
Explicet  haustu. 

Jarnque  regressus  spatiis,  et  uiide 
Orsa  deduxi  repetens  eidem, 
Regio  infanti  patrias  reposco 
Versus  ad  aras — 

O  procul  distet  tibi  lux  suprema ! 
Munere  etlongo  imperii  fruaris; 
Bellicas  artes  studiumque  pacis 
Firm  iter  aequans. 

*  Fine  bellorum,  ^c]     This  allusion  is,  strictly  speaking,  pro- 
leptic  of  the  eventual  issues  in  Affghanistan  and  China. 
^  Nostra  dum  nemo,  ^-c.J 

"  Jam  mari  terraque  manus  potentes 
Medus  Albanasque  timet  secures." 

Carm.  Sec.  53-4. 
*■  Aureus  quo  amnis,  ^-c.']  The  commercial  advantages  contem- 
plated by  the  establishment  of  new  relations  with  the  Chinese 
Empire,  about  that  period,  are  here  referred  to;  the  image  being 
borrowed  from  the  legend  of  the  golden  sands  of  Hermus :  a  tale 
Avhose  improbability  is  considerably  reduced  by  modern  facts. 


REGIA  NATALITIA. 


245 


Te  tamen  fati  gelidus  minister 
Amplius  quando  vetuit  morari ; 
Quando  terrestris,  nebula  premente, 
Scena  recessit ; 

Aliger  fotum  gremio  per  astra 
Coetus,  asternos  celebrans  triumphos, 
Alta  sublimem  ferat  ad  beatum 
Limina  la3tus. 

Ilia  turn  demum  potior  corona 
Sit  tibi — quanto  pretio  parata ! 
Sit  tibi  laudes  Domini  canendo 
Ducere  sa3cla". 

"  The  author  cannot  close  without  remarking,  that  several  of 
the  aspirations  of  the  preceding  Carmen  Sacrum  happily  seem 
to  be  much  less  prospective  in  their  realization,  and  less  merely 
poetic  in  their  fancy,  than  when  the  poem  was  written. 

Among  the  symptoms  of  public  amelioration  now  actually  pre- 
sent may  be  noticed  —  a  growing  appreciation  of  the  peaceful 
energies  of  practical  pursuits  above  the  busy  idleness  of  political 
speculation;  a  more  consistent  application  of  the  true  principles" 
of  science  to  the  advancement  of  agricultural  and  commercial 
interests;  a  general  tendency  to  adjust  mutual  interests  rather 
than  to  contest  separate  rights;  the  moral  discouragement,  more 
potent  than  laws,  which  the  intelligence  of  the  community  evi- 
dently presents  to  setting  up  any  barrier  of  religious  exclusive- 
ness  in  the  path  of  national  improvement  ;  and  the  hospitable 
pledge  of  patronage  and  example  which  Great  Britain  is  now  prof- 
fering to  the  Industry  of  All  Nations. 

FINIS. 


/ 


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•  ERRATA. 

Page  19,  line     2,  for  "  indeed,  can  hardly  be"  read  "  it  can  hardly  be". 
—    98,   —  26, /or  Horation  rear/ Horatian. 


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